The Lost Necklace
by TH00PISqWRL216
Summary: Seven years since Zim has had any earth-conquering plans. Gaz has remained her antisocial self until an old enemy returns and turns their world upsidedown. Was Gaz's necklace really just a necklace or was it something much more powerful? Mild ZAGR and maybe DATR later.
1. An Average Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Invader Zim blah blah blah...

Takes place 7 years later.

For all of those ZADR and ZATR people out there I will not make this one of those stories, I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure Dib and Tak would rather kill Zim than be in a love relationship with him.

ZZZZZZZZ

Gaz suddenly loses her precious necklace in a fight and slowly her personality begins to change for unknown reasons.

It was another normal day for Gaz, well as normal as it gets. She woke up and showered, hoping Dib didn't use it all up. She went over to the kitchen to eat, barley catching her dad before he left for, as he often would. "Goodbye daughter, goodbye son." He cheerfully said before leaving.

Gaz walked over to the table, punched Dib for eating her cereal, served herself a bowl and ate. When she finished she walked over to the T.V. to watch some her shows before she had to leave for school.

She left for skool with Dib as usual. With him rambling on about how he was going to expose Zim, as usual. Then Zim caught up with them to mock Dib about his abnormally large head, as usual. The they got into an argument about something having to do with a toad and Zim's skin color. The she would yell at them for being too loud and warn them that I they didn't shut up they were going to regret it, as usual.

She went to all the same pointless classes. With all the same, stupid, pointless people. She ate the same disgusting food since elementary skool. 'Seven years' she thought to herself 'seven years and you still haven't done much with your life or even slightly change how you live it. You still have never had a relationship with anyone. Nothing in the boring world had changed. Nothing.' This word rang in her head like a bell and bounced around in there like balloon with the air let out.

When the ball finally rang she let out a sigh of relief, as if this was a divine gift from above telling her she had to endure no longer. She left through the front doors and met up with Dib, who was slightly burnt and roughed up from a fight with Zim she was guessing. The walk home was torturous, as her brother would not shut up about the fight he had with Zim and how incredible he was."I mean you should have seen me out there, I was jumping everywhere and doing all these cool flips..." Dib said as he gestured with his hands making a flip motion. She stopped listening to him after he started talking about how he had to make a weapon with only a ruler, tape, a pen, and gum from under the desk.

She got home and worked on her next couple of levels of her game on her Game Slave 5 which, as usual, was a breeze. She went over to watch some T.V. until Dib went in to watch another one of his paranormal T.V. shows. She found it strange how her brother, with a head to size of a pumpkin, could be so stupid and sucked into his work. Gas got up and told Dib as she was leaving "I'm going to Bloaty's, I'll be back in a couple of hours." Her brother only responded with a grunt as she left.

ZZZZZZZZ

A few hours later Gaz was back, only to find that Dib had been knocked unconscious by Zim who was looking through Dib's computer. She didn't really mind Zim all that much as long as he didn't hurt her brother, that was her job.

Zim had really grown in size throughout the past seven years, he even hovered above some of the students in the school. Though, this didn't matter to his level of power anymore as he was no longer part of the Irken empire anymore. The memory of how that happened began to unfold in her mind.

ZZZZZZZZ

She remembered, even if it was over 3 years ago, how depressed he had been the whole week and how he was even more antisocial than usual. It was later revealed, after Dib stalking him for a couple of hours and her tagging along as usual, that they discovered Zim had been officially told about his "mission" by the tallest. To be honest she felt a little bad for the little alien then, on earth he had nobody, the only thing that got him out bed was probably that he though has was sent fo a truly glorious reason and that when he finished, he would be glorified and honored.

After that Zim just kind of gave up on the invader thing and went to just humiliating Dib as much as possible which, in her eyes, was a worthy job and not too difficult. However, most of the time he just pulled petty pranks, he never socialized or even showed any want to socialize. Even after all these years, Zim had no one, the closest he had come to someone of his kind was Tak all those years ago and even she hated him.

Throughout that whole week Dib had beaten, tazed, drenched and humiliated Zim, but Zpthe alien just shrugged it off and continued for the rest of the week like that. It was only until Zim came to face the truth, that he was all alone and there was nothing he could do about it except live his super-extended life, that he finally gotten off of his butt and began to do something beyond moping around all day.

ZZZZZZZZ

Gaz snapped back into the present and stared at Zim for a moment, and thought to herself 'Wait, if he's no longer trying to take over the planet, then why is he downloading information from Dib's computer. There was nothing embarrassing on there.' Trust me, she had searched through his computer many times for the same purpose.

Gaz walked up to the alien exile, who was too busy looking through the computer to notice her. When she came up to him she said in loud voice "Wat'cha lookin' for?"

Zim had been caught off guard and screamed "Gaahhhhhh!" as he fell back in the computer chair. As he was climbing back to his feet, Zim retorted "You really shouldn't sneak up on and Irken invader like the that, you can get seriously hurt."

Gaz corrected him and said "Ex".

Zim had no idea what she was talking about and replied with a "Huh?"

Gaz rolled her squinted eyes. "Ex-Invader" she finally said.

Zim looked hurt when she had replied. His cheeks turned a deep green as if saying that was the most embarrassing things in the world to be told. He looked at her for a moment in silence. "Dib's schedule" he said replying to the girl's question from earlier.

Gaz went over to the computer and went through a few of the documents before pulling up Dib's schedule. She gestured him over and showed him the schedule. "So why do you need this stuff anyway?" said asked.

Zim looked over and replied "If you must know, human. If I am to be efficient in how much humiliation I can cause to the Dib-stink, I must know when and where he at all times so that I am not aimlessly walking about, looking for him. And you don't mind if I ask, why are you helping me?"

"I enjoy my brother's misery" she answered.

After a few minutes Gaz left the alien to study and look over the schedule. About half-an-hour later she heard Zim leave. She returned to her game before lying down in bed. She stared at her ceiling for a moment and thought 'All in a days work' before dozing off.

ZZZZZZZZ

Okay so this is my first story and this chapter is just the basis of life before the conflict is introduced. The more interesting stuff will come later. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! *Voice in head speaks* "Pssst, your forgetting something you moron..." *Imaginary finger points at price of paper*. Oh yeah! And if you still enjoy Invader Zim more than 10 years after it was *sob* cancelled, then head on over to YouTube and show my good ol' buddy ol' pal IZTheDoomMovie some support and subscribe to his channel, he is making an Invader Zim fan movie that will serve a finale for the series since there was never a finale. And last, but not least I wanted to say, I will try to update this story every week and the story will be as long as I want it to be, probably around 50-60 chapters. ?


	2. The Fight

OK is chapter picks up some speed and will officially begin the conflict of the story. This is where the T rating comes in, for some language, violence, and one offensive gesture.

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So the morning process had repeated itself starting with Gaz getting out of bed and getting ready, then going down stairs to the kitchen and her dad saying his goodbye's, then Zim and Dib arguing on her way to skool, but when she got to skool everything changed. A new girl had arrived and was in her class, even though the girl was old enough to be a senior.

'Dib's grade' she thought to herself.

When the girl spoke to the class, her English accent and her attitude immediately gave her away, even though the disguise had changed. 'Tak' Gaz thought, almost saying it out loud. This time, though, she was taller in costume, had dark pink hair in a pixi-cut, she wore a plain black hoodie with hot pink jeans that had buckles coming off of the sides that almost made the pants look like skydiving pants and her purple combat boots made her look even taller. Tak looked over the classroom and almost stopped dead in the middle of the speech she was giving, similar to the one given in Zim's class all those years ago, when she recognized Gaz in the crowd of people that were in the room.

Gaz noticed how tense she looked when her eyes met Tak's, but Tak continued to give her speech. When she was finished Tak walked over to Gaz and sat in the unoccupied seats among the many others that were around Gaz.

She was just taunting Gaz, saying with her actions, 'I'm here and there's nothing you can do about it.'

XXXXXXXX

Come lunch time, Gaz sat at her table with Dib, who was basically drooling over the new girl.

Thy sat there for a moment in silence as Dib stared at her. "You know that's Tak in disguise right?" she said finally breaking the silence. Dib nearly spit out his milk all over Gaz, but wisely stopped himself, he swallowed hard and said nearly screaming "WHAT!?" Gaz looked at him and told him "Yeah, she came into my class today and gave us this speech on how thrilled she was to be in our class, then she gave everyone gifts like it was Christmas." This was all too familiar to Dib as he thought back to how she introduced herself on Valentine's Day.

Gaz got up and walked across that cafeteria over to Tak "You're not fooling anyone with that costume TAK." but Tak was unphased by Gaz's remark and instead said "Well it seems that I'm fooling everyone else" and she raised both hands in the air gesturing the whole cafeteria.

Gaz knew that Tak was just about the only per..well creature that was a threat to this planet. Gaz warned her "Just don't go trying to destroying the planet again or you'll regret it." "I'll do as I please" Tak answered and she gave Gaz a middle finger, something that she never would have thought ANYONE in her life would have done.

Gaz balled her hands into fists and walked over "YOU BITCH, NO ONE FLIPS ME OFF AND LIVES!" she said as she charged Tak, catching her off guard, Gaz had successfully swiped her feet from under her and triumphantly put her foot on top of her, but she still didn't let her guard down. Still, Tak was able to get her off of her and .

'Man fightin' with out my pak legs will be difficult, but I cant blow my cover' Tak thought to herself as everyone in the cafeteria gathered around, including Dib; Zim had gone off to hide from Tak so that he could avoid her mocking him for being officially kicked out of the armada.

Tak assumed her fighting position and Gaz readied herself to charge. After a few seconds Gaz attacked and threw the first punch, Tak had barley enough time to process and dodge the incredibly fast speed of Gaz. Punch after punch was thrown at Tak, only to be seen as blur by everyone else.

Tak thought to herself 'I can't keep is up anymore, I have to go on the offensive.' With this thought Tak timed herself and at the right moment, threw a punch only catching Gaz beneath her neck.

After a few minutes of punches and kicks being exchanged between the two, a teacher came in to break up the fight. As the teachers tore the two girls from each other, the girls began to curse each other.

"PSYCHOTIC BITCH!" Tak sneered.

"WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE SHUT YOUR BIG ASS MOUTH BEFORE IT GOT SHUT FOR YOU!" Gaz responded.

"That's enough from both of you!" The teacher finally said.

XXXXXXXX

A few hours later Gaz and Tak were in the office getting lectured by the principal. Gaz had been ignoring him the whole time not really caring and Tak had a smirk on her face the whole time. When the principal finished speaking, he waved to the secretary to bring in their parents...well Gaz's dad and Tak's robo-parents. When they came in Gaz's dad looked both too busy to care and disappointed, while the robo-parents were doing the classic "You're in so much trouble" and "I am very angry with you" parent chirad trying to get Tak out of there as fast as possible.

After about ten minutes, Tak had left and Gaz was left with her dad and the principal.

"Young lady, what happened today?" Professor Membrane asked sounding like he actually cared for once. "In all your years in skool, you have never been in a fight."

'Not one that anyone else knows about...' Gaz thought.

They sat there for a few hours trying to figure out why Gaz had done what she had done and trying to go over legal stuff to make sure nobody got sued by anyone.

When they finished this, Gaz and her dad left the office "I just don't understand why you would be getting into fights. You can't be seeking attention because you're very quiet, you can't be looking for sympathy because you seem to be happy and you're definitely not bullying, so what's wrong daughter?"

"She provoked me and she paid for it." Gaz answered simply.

"Well you can't just go out and beat on every person who insults you, so you need to learn to keep that temper in check young lady." Her dad said nodding his finger at her.

Gaz rolled her eyes without her father noticing, "Yes, dad." The rest of the car ride was in silence.

XXXXXXXX

When she got home her dad went back to his work having already lectured her in the car. She sat on the couch and turned on her show. Dib walked in and took a careful look at her 'There's something different about her, but I just can't put my finger on it...' Then it hit him like a ton of bricks."Gaz!"

"What?" she answered sounding slightly irritated.

"Where's your necklace?" Dib in his whole life had never seen her without her necklace, it was almost like seeing her naked...

Gaz's eyes grew and she looked down at her neck, 'Tak' she thought.

XXXXXXXX

The next day Gaz woke up feeling strangely...happy. It was an eerie, but good feeling. She went into the shower and felt the strange urge to sing, but she managed to shake the thought.

When she walked into the kitchen her dad had already left, she kind of felt sad that she had barley missed her dad and hadn't been able to say goodbye to him. As she walked to the table Dib flinched expecting her to puch him as usual, but instead she just patted him on the head and sat to eat.

Dib looked to her and asked "Are you feeling okay? You don't seem like yourself."

"I...I don't know...I don't know why, but ever since the fight I've felt happier."

"Well stop it Gaz, its freaking me out..."

The rest of the day continued like this, but things got really weird when Tak bumped into her in the hallway. "Watch where your walking" the alien sneered.

"Sorry" Gaz answered, catching herself, Tak and everyone else off guard.

XXXXXXXX

WHOA! DID THAT JUST HAPPEN!? *voice in head* "Of course it did, you wrote it." Shut up no one asked you. Well any who this was a really awesome chapter for me to write, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment or review or whatever they're called. The next chapter will explain everything, (why Tak is back, why Gaz is acting like this and if this will ever have any ZAGR).? THOOPID OUT!


	3. Not Herself

Hey so i just noticed something that is pretty significant to this story, in the episode "Bad Bad Rubber Piggies" one of the flash backs shows Gaz when she was, what I'm guessing, around 4 or 5. In the flash back she has no necklace...meaning she got it 5 to 6 years, at the most, before Zim came to earth (I know this because Jhonen Vasquez says Dib is 11 and Gaz is a year younger). Another cool factoid, Vasquez actually said that the characters age throughout the show; so by the end of the series, Dib is 13.

Another quick thing, I'm in dual credit English and it is really helping me with getting into deeper detail, meaning better stories for you, but I also don't have as much time to write. Right now I'm reading a story called 13 Reasons Why, and man this book is good...hopefully I don't get influenced by the story too much because if I do, then this story will have a lot of messed up, depressing events! Well I hope I'm not pumping these chapters out too fast. Now finally, without further adue here is the next chapter...

YYYYYYYY

Everyone in the hallway stopped dead after hearing this and started murmuring and whispering. "Whoa...", "Did she just say SORRY?", "There's something really weird going on here..." these comments, along with many others, made there way throughout the hall.

Tak stood there speechless, she had no idea how to react to this answer. For a few moments the two stood there in silence, up until someone shouted something inaudible. Finally, Tak walked over with a cautious, almost scared face "I beg your pardon?"

"I said I'm sorry..." Gaz said almost choking on the words.

It was at that moment Tak became nervous and she was looking around as if it was a trap, "I'm glad you came to your senses before you got hurt." these words came out very shaky, but still strong.

Gaz wanted to say something back so bad, something like 'Take it back before you regret it' or 'I'm not going to be the one getting hurt'. As much as she wanted to say these words, she just couldn't make them come out...it was as if every fiber in her body had forced her not to. Gaz smiled, scaring Tak even more.

YYYYYYYY

Come lunch time, Gaz walked into the cafeteria and the lunch room immediately fell silent. Again the whispers started up again. When she sat next to Dib he looked at her terrified, half-expecting her to explode out of rage. After a few moments of bracing himself for the outburst of rage, he finally looked over and relaxed. "Are you okay?" he finally asked.

Gaz was quiet for a moment, "I don't know..." his sister answered at level that was almost under her breath.

Dib looked at her again, but this time more closely. "Have you found your necklace yet?"

"No such luck" she answered.

This got Dib thinking, when and where exactly did she get that thing? Dib looked over to Gaz, "What do you remember about getting that necklace?" Dib asked probing the situation.

"Well...I remember dad took us to an antique shop and you got some old alien related thing. Of all the items in the store, only one actually caught my eye. The necklace. It was almost as if it was calling to me, luring me in and I haven't even taken it off since" she paused for a moment "Ya know, starting the day I got it, I felt like I was someone else. Now that I've lost it it feels like I'm free again...and I don't like it. I NEED to get that thing back, from wherever it is." After lunch, Dib began doing research on the necklace.

YYYYYYYY

While all this was going on, Zim was off to the side thinking 'Now why would the Gaz-human apologize to TAK of all people. The human is well more that capable of over powering her' Zim do not doubt the power of Gaz, hence why he pursued his hate for Dib rather than his "passion" for the human, even though lately she seemed to be not 100 percent.

"Gaz..." he said quietly to himself. "Why of all creatures in the universe, did I have to fall for you. Maybe its because you seem unstoppable, untouchable even." He chuckled to himself "Wow, an Irken invader," 'ex-invader' Gaz's voice rang in his head. " in love with a human. And here I thought my whole life, Irkens can't feel anything remotely close to love due to us reproducing by cloning. Maybe its part of me being a defective." He said, remembering how he found out he was one during the worst week of his life, the week he got fired, well more like officially banished and kicked while he was down.

He shook the feelings away and went to find Dib, hopefully making him miserable would make himself feel better, I mean it always worked for Gaz.

YYYYYYYY

Dib sat there looking at page after page of mysterious necklaces. after an hour he finally found a website that had a picture of a necklace similar to Gaz's, but Dib lost the webpage when Zim threw a water balloon at him shorting out his computer.

"DAMN IT ZIM! THAT WAS MY ONLY LEAD ON WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING TO GAZ!" He was only able to see the name of the necklace before his computer got fried 'The Metamorphosis Pendant". Dib made sure to make a mental note on this before chasing Zim down the hallway with a tranquilizer gun that he managed to sneak into skool.

YYYYYYYY

Hours later Dib got home with his hair singed and his face covered in soot. He immediately went to his room and got on his computer "Meta...morph...osis...pen...dant..." he said to himself syllable by syllable as typed it out.

He clicked on the first link and what he saw connected all the dots to the puzzle. On the screen it said "Believed to have a dark being dwelling within, these pendants were given to the bravest of warriors of an ancient, lost civilization. Not much is know about the mysterious history of this civilization, the mostly contributing factor is that they existed over 50 million years ago, but were still able to create some of the most marvelous structures. Though none of these structures stand today, their descriptions have been passed on through stories in many cultures. The last known standing structure collapsed in 1292. The structures were known for their use of many shades of purple and red."

'Curious' Dib thought. 'An entire civilization disappearing without a single trace, but even more curious, the only thing of them that survived was a collection of necklaces'

YYYYYYYY

Zim was in his lab thinking about the situation, 'How can someone as strong willed, like Gaz, just simply apologize?' Sometimes he didn't understand human behavior, but this was obviously abnormal. Then it hit him, no wonder that pendant looked so familiar; he thought back to a story he heard back in the academy.

Back when the Irken empire was still new, before they started conquering other planets. The ship that was the massive at the time had crashed landed on another planet, the inhabitants were described as massive, some scaly others feathered, but all looked savage. However, the crash caused a planet wide extinction so they weren't able to see if they were civilized or intelligent. Wandering the planet for resources, these Irkens decided to build a base of operations, a palace for the current tallest, and many more buildings in order to be able to function as a temporary society. Come the time the massive had been repaired, they just abandoned everything and left...they didn't tear down the buildings or keep the planet for a base, no they just left.

The crash isn't what brought up the memory though, it was the description of the necklace. The Irkens that were on the planet at the time uses different way to assign jobs, because paks hadn't been made yet; instead they created small chips that created a psychic projection that gave the wearer the behavior needed for the job that was assigned. Each chip was worn like a necklace and was shaped according to the job that they represented.

"But how did the human acquire one of these?" Zim said to himself.

YYYYYYYY

YAY! Another chapter done, and this time I managed to fit a whole lot of information. Not only that, but I fit in a hint of ZADR too! Okay so to be honest, my imagination is slowing down and I need ideas. *voice in head* "FEEDS ME IDEAS, FEEDS ME MOAR!" Alright, alright chill. So yeah like he said, send in ideas, comment ideas I don't care just send in some suggestions and no I AM NOT GOING TO DISCONTINUE THIS STORY I WILL FINISH IT. However, just because you send in an idea doesn't mean it will be in the story and I might change up your ideas a little bit to fit the story. Well hope you enjoyed, I'll try to get another chapter up as soon as possible. THOOPID OUT!


	4. Explanations

So first things first, sorry this is coming out so late I have just been swamped with school work. Secondly, HOORAY! This story has been so fortunate to get over 100 visitors and this really boosts my confidence in this storyline. Well enough of my babbling, on with the story!

AAAAAAAA

Dib had been doing research on the necklace and after a grueling eight hours on his computer, he found his answer. "Gaz!" Dib said, his shrieking voice making her cringe from both the pitch and her mellow anger.

"What do you want Dib?"

"I think I finally figured out what's going on with you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't act like you haven't noticed, everyone has. You haven't beat me up in over 12 hours, you haven't threatened ANYONE and not a single insult has slipped out of your mouth since yesterday!"

"Okay fine..." Gaz said finally admitting that something was up. "What's doing this to me?" Dib opened his mouth, but before he could say anything there was a knock on the door.

"Gaz-human I need to speak with you...it has to do with the serious matter at hand." Zim shouted from their front porch.

Gaz walked over to the door a crack, but leaving the door chain locked, just in case he tried to force his way in. "What serious matter?"

Zim looked at her. "The source of your Gaziness or what ever you call it."

Without thinking Gaz let Zim in and he saw Dib. Both of their faces immediately turned into a killer look. "Alright, before you two try to kill each other someone tell me what the hell is going on."

Dib answered as quickly as possible. "That necklace is an ancient pendant from a lost civilization that existed millions of years ago! And it has a demon that dwells within and it has been affecting your personality for years, trying to escape!"

Gaz rolled her eyes at Dib supernatural mumbo jumbo and turned to Zim. "Okay so tell me what is REALLY happening."

"So that necklace is from the Irken armada before it was the armada. Millions of years ago, the ship we called the massive at the time crashed on this planet so stranded we did what any sensible superior race would do, we built a civilization that would last until our ship was ready to leave. The necklace was the system we used at the time to assign jobs. It created a psychic link to the wearer, determined their ideal job for them, stimulated the areas of the squeedlyspooch, or in you humans case the brain, that had to do with your assigned task to increase efficiency and finally it would also make copy of the wearer's mind so that it would know if something abnormal is happening to them. Since your brainwaves don't match up with the thought patterns other Irken who wore the necklace it tried to fix that, but since you're not Irken it wasn't able to fully do this and instead only changed it slightly. Once it was removed your brain began to go back to how you would have behaved without the necklace in the first place." Zim paused for a second to let the heap of information seep in.

"So you telling me that I have been wearing a dead aliens job assigning chip for over 10 years, all the while it was trying to change me into that dead alien?" Gaz asked.

"To put it more simply, yes."

Dib looked lost and Gaz started to laugh.

"Is the human okay?" Zim asked never hearing Gaz laugh before.

"I'm great! For little while I thought I was either going crazy or had been drugged in my sleep! Not that finding out that I was being changed mentally is much better, but its a little more weight off the shoulders." Gaz said trying not to laugh too much.

Finally, Dib caught up in the conversation. "So wait, your saying there was a perfectly logical explanation for this, this whole time?"

"Yeah" Zim answered. "Oh and almost forgot, there might be sides effects to her not having the necklace since she had it for so long. So if you notice any abnormal changes other than personality changes in her, let me know." Zim said almost sounding like he was worried.

"Why do you care Zim?" Dib asked.

"I...I don't care...I just... I AM ZIM!" He shouted before storming out. 'That was too close, they were so close to knowing my true feelings about Gaz and an Irken inva...well an Irken like myself, can't be showing any kind of weakness.' Zim thought to himself.

AAAAAAAA

Tak sat in her lab of her new base wondering. 'Why would the human, someone as willful and stubborn as her, apologize?' Tak looked over to the necklace she accidentally swiped off the human in their fight. "Now what in the world is this thing? It looks like an ordinary necklace, but my computer told me that is was much more complex than most things on earth." She said, half talking to herself, half talking to Mimi who was in the corner of he room.

Mimi only looked at the vengeful alien, but Tak knew what she was saying due to her implant. She was saying "What's even more curious is that the computer indicated that this is Irken technology, but it is over 50 million years old."

That was the advantage of an implant, no one could hear her conversations with Mimi, she could influence others thoughts and read minds. However, there were some drawbacks too. For example, a particularly high voltage electric shock can knock her unconscious and fry her implant permanently and she can only influence the actions of others if their intelligence is significantly lower which, as surprising as it was to her, meant she couldn't use it on Zim, Dib or Gaz.

"Computer! Analyze the pendant attached to the necklace and run it through comparisons with all objects in both the human and Irken databases."

"YES MAM!" The computer responded.

AAAAAAAA

As the week went by Gaz was feeling happier and happier...and she hated and loved it at the same time. She loved it because she had slowly become accepted by the rest of the skool, but why did she care? She hated it because she wasn't used to being so nice and she slowly started to not feel the need for revenge, which was even more uncomfortable for her as she often got caught in the crossfire of Dib's and Zim's pranks.

The rest of the skool became so used to the nice Gaz that they had almost completely forgotten about how she used to be. Her father even seemed to take notice in it and, as surprising as it sounds, was TRYING get time off to spend with his children. She was happier than she had ever been in her life.

AAAAAAAA

After day in and day out of this Zim slowly found himself uncomfortable with Gaz, but found her easier to talk to.

"G-Gaz?" The nervous alien asked.

"Yeah?" Gaz said cheerfully.

"Well I was sort of...kind of...I wanted to ask..." He stopped, took in a deep breath, "Iwaswonderingifyouwouldliketohangoutwithmeafterclassandplayvideogames!" He finally said so quickly that it seemed to be one, long word.

Dib, who was sitting next to her, jaw dropped when he heard this. 'Did he just ask my sister on a date!?' He thought. He quickly became skeptical about this and began to think of the many reasons why the awkward alien would ask his sister out on a date. 'Okay, this is either a sick prank he's pulling in me, he's planning something or he is truly wanting to be with my sister.'

While he was thinking about this Gaz and Zim were still talking. "Sure! Where do you want to go?" Gaz said.

Zim almost fell back being caught off guard by Gaz's acceptance. "Well...I was thinking your house or Bloaty's . I mean if that's alright with you..."

"Sounds great! I meet at the front of skool by the skool sign."

"Alright, I guess I'll see you then." Zim was still a little surprised at Gaz's response. 'Is it the Gaz that I knew that's accepting me or is it the new Gaz?' Zim thought as he walked away feeling weak in the knees.

AAAAAAAA

YAY! *voice in head* "LET THE ZAGR BEGIN!" Well, I'm glad we can agree on something for once. Well another chapter done and many more coming up. I would also like to give a shout out to titanicdragon who agreed to be my proof reader! Remember to review what you thought. Also, keep an eye out for the next chapter "The Best/Worst Date Ever"! THOOPID OUT!


	5. A Little of Both

"Alright children," Zim's teacher, Mr. Baxter, said calling the room to be quiet."So tonight your homework is going to be a simple 300 word essay on love. Why we feel it, why we desire it and how it can change a person. Your essay can be literal or figurative." BZZZZZZZZZT, the final bell rang. "One last thing before you leave, make sure that you capture your true feelings about this assignment." Mr. Baxter said as the students gathered their belongings.

Zim was so relieved to hear this sound. "Show time..." He said to himself quietly jokingly before leaving the room.

As he walked through the hallway he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed. He turned around a few times, but saw no one that particularly stuck out in the crowd. He got to the front of the school and saw Gaz greeting him with a smile. "So are you ready?" She asked.

Zim was still uneasy about going to Bloaty's, remembering what happened last time he went. He shook this feeling off reminding himself 'She's worth the pain Zim.' "Yeah let's go."

DDDDDDDD

10 minutes earlier on the opposite side of the skool.

Dib left his class as fast as he could to find Zim, as they hadn't had a class together since middle skool. He ran down the hall as fast as he could, but bumped into another student.

"Watch it you imbecile." The all too familiar English accent said to him.

"Look Tak, I have no time to insult you back and get into a fight so I'm just gonna leave." He said quickly while picking himself up off the floor before running off again.

'What is the human up to...?' She thought as she watched Dib run.

"There he is." Dib said to himself as he slowed to a walk. He followed Zim down the hallway jumping behind the lockers and blending into the crowd every time Zim looked back. He watched the alien closely and he noticed Zim talking to himself, 'What is he saying? Is he going over a prank he's pulling?' Dib snapped back to reality and noticed he was falling behind and picked up his pace, but not too fast to where he was right behind Zim.

When he got outside, he saw Zim go toward the sign and meet up with his sister. They stood there talking for a second before they started walking down the road. Dib trailed them, but he was across the road and far behind so being extra careful that they didn't see him.

'Look at him,' he thought 'who does he think he is? First he tries to destroy my planet, gets fired by his leaders and starts to prank me 24/7 instead, and now he's dating my sister!' He continued to observe them carefully as they walked.

DDDDDDDD

"So Zim I've been wondering for a while now...what happened that week you got banished. You didn't go to skool for a week and you seemed to be even more distant toward everyone when you returned?" She asked quietly, knowing it must be a touchy subject for him.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Zim answered. "When I found out about why I was truly sent here, I was devastated. However, it wasn't the fact that I was banished or me being told it was a fake mission so bluntly after all those years of trying to destroy Earth. No it was the fact that, starting at that point, I was truly alone on this planet. No one to report to, no one who I felt was smart enough to even talk to left for me." He paused. "Then during these past few years I developed these strange feelings and complex emotions that I had never felt before, and what was even stranger to me was that I only got them around you. As time went by and I observed the dating rituals of you humans, I began to understand these feelings and what they meant. The hardest part was accepting them because we Irken are not supposed to have these feelings, we are engineered to be workers and soldiers and nothing more. Those of us that do have these feelings are disposed of or banished, but I never had the feelings when I was part of the empire. So finding out that I was a failure from the beginning just made it all sting even more."

"I didn't ask for your life story," Gaz said jokingly "but its good to know that you're not just trying to get under my brother's skin by dating me..."

DDDDDDDD

So Dib followed them all the way to Bloaty's without being seen, but he never went in since it would have been too easy to spot him inside.

"Damn, I should've brought my spy equipment with me. Well, I guess all I can do is watch and see what happens." Dib said to himself in defeat.

So that's what he did, he watched Zim's every move, so closely, he never saw his sister moving her hand slowly across the table onto Zim's. When Dib noticed he was surprised, but he continued to watch Zim. Zim noticed and immediately looked distressed and pulled his hand away, but not in disgust.

'Oh so now he's too good for her?' Dib thought.

As Dib sat there watching he didn't hear a set of footsteps coming up behind him.

"What's going on here?" The English voice asked loudly.

"AAAAHHHH!" Dib screamed being caught off guard by Tak. He quickly collected himself and turned to her. "Where did you come from? Wait, did you follow me?"

"Yes I followed you, you twit. How else would I know where you were?"

"Well you could put a tracker on me..."

"What, and waste resources on you?" She said scornfully. "Now answer my question, what's going on here?"

"My sister and Zim are on a date and wanted to keep an eye on them." Dib answered.

45 minutes ago

Meanwhile Inside:

Zim walked Gaz over to the table and pulled her chair out for having learned this from studying the couples at skool. Then walked over and sat down across from her. Zim ordered a pizza for Gaz and looked at the table nervously as she ate.

"Aren't you going to have some?"

Zim looked up from the table. "No, cheese has a rather...horrific effect on me."

"Ookayy..."

So Gaz and Zim talked for a while about typical stuff someone would say on a date, what their lives are like, life at home, life at skool, and what they had in common. After talking for awhile they got a little more personal with the topics and Gaz slowly moved her hand across the table on top of Zim's. Zim looked down and nervously moved it away.

"What's wrong?" Gaz asked surprised.

"I...I'm just...I'm not comfortable with showing the feelings in a public setting.' Zim answered.

Then they both heard a scream from outside and were shocked at what they saw...Dib.

"Are. You. Kidding me..." Gaz said, pausing between words.

"DID THAT LOWLIFE, FAT-HEADED, A** REALLY FOLLOW US!? DID HE REALLY THINK I WOULD GO AS LOW AS TO MESS WITH HIM BY DATING YOU!?" The words came out so loud that most of the people stopped completely and stared at them and Zim quickly sunk back in his seat embarrassed.

They both quickly got up and went outside and Dib tried to hide in the dumpster.

"Dib, I know you're in there." She called out in a pissed tone.

Dib crawled out in defeat.

"Of all the stupid, ridiculous, idiotic things you have done in the past, this one is near the top of the list!" (Just under cursing her with Pig Mouth) "Look Dib, I know you worry at times, but I don't need your constant protection."

'Wow' Dib thought 'She must really be pissed, I haven't heard her this angry since the fight at skool with Tak.'

As Gaz and Dib talked Zim turned and looked at Tak.

"So Tak, why are you here? I have no mission to take and nothing else left to lose."

"I can think of one." Tak said looking at Gaz.

Zim growled. "Put a claw on her and I'll end you. Remember, the scariest thing is a being with nothing left to lose." Zim warned.

"I'm not here to cause you any pain Zim. I'm here for her. Last time it wasn't really you who stopped me in the end, it was her." She stopped. "And its exactly how you said it, I have nothing to lose." She said threateningly and with those words she ended the conversation and walked away, leaving a creepy aurora.

DDDDDDDD

The walk home was awkward needless to say why. Dib just walked along, not even even paying attention to Zim. Zim managed to calm down Gaz. They were ahead of him talking.

"I still don't understand why he would not trust you. I know you've done some things in the past, but that's all in the past. You haven't done anything but mess with him in almost 4 years."

"Well I have stooped down to lower levels before. And yes, I know I'm defending the Dib, but even though he did something wrong, he had good intentions." Zim said.

They got to Gaz and Dib's house and Dib went inside, but watched from inside. Not out of distrust anymore, but out of curiosity of what was going on between them.

Gaz saw him and decided to get a little revenge for the first time in 2 weeks. She leaned toward Zim and kissed him. She saw Dib nearly lose it and Zim was caught off guard so he didn't react until she pulled away.

"What was that for!?" Zim shouted, his voice cracking from nervousness. Then he looked to the window and saw Dib. "Was that for me or to mess with him?"

"A little of both."

DDDDDDDD

WOW! The was one looooong chapter! Hope you don't mind the kind of subtle end to this chapter, but I ran out of ideas for this and need a little extra time for ideas.

*voice in head* "Like you have a brain to think up ideas with." Look I don't need you to pop in at every chance you little annoying j***! "Hey, at least I'm not the one arguing with myself." That's it! I'm turning you off until I'm done with this chapter!

"No wai-" That's much better. Now where was I...oh yeah so the next chapter will have a big change in the story and I personally am excited for it. THOOPID OUT!


	6. A Woken Evil

So this is where the action really pick up and shit really hits the fan for Zim and everyone on earth. To be honest the idea for this chapter just came to me and I personally thought its good, but I want to know what you think. So here's the next chapter.

XXXXXXXX

Zim walked from Gaz's house still trying to process what Tak had said to him. 'She told me it was for both reasons, but I just felt used.' He thought. 'I thought humans were supposed to be more sincere than that." Nevertheless, what Zim was really worried about was what Tak said. She said she had nothing to lose, and she was right. Her opportunity to be an invader was ruined by Zim; she came back for revenge only to be defeated by Zim, Dib and Gaz, and then she became the laughing stock of the empire.

"Its exactly like how you said it," the words repeated in his head "I have nothing to lose."

"Nothing to lose," Zim said quietly. "Do I really know the meaning of nothing or was I just trying to intimidate Tak? At least I had my ignorance to keep me from realizing that my life was horrible. Tak on the other hand, is well aware of how horrible her life really is. Then there's the fact that I have Gaz."

When he got home, he found Gir watching the monkey show and covered in syrup.  
"HI MASTER!" The little robot screeched.

"Gir why is there syrup everywhere?"

"I took a waffle bath!" Gir answered.

Zim just shook his head and went down to the base. He went to the computer to continue research the necklace more, just in case there could be any side effects on Gaz.

He stayed there for hours looking through every Irken archive, hacking into some, to find more information. Then he heard an explosion upstairs. He quickly ran up there with a few weapons to be sure he could fight off whatever it was. He came out of the kitchen, toilet only to enter a room filled with smoke and ash.

"Computer! Turn on the ventilation system!" He said coughing.

When the smoke cleared, there stood Tak, but something seemed strange. She looked like she had the battle experience of a thousand Irken warriors and the confidence ten fold, but when she spoke that immediately tipped the scale to the strange side. Instead of her usual English accent, a terrifying and demonic voice came out.

"You must be Zim. The previous owner of this mind seemed very obsessed with revenge on you." The deep and powerful voice said.

"What...what is...the meaning of this!?" Zim shouted sounding disturbed and frightened.

XXXXXXXX

Three hours earlier.

Tak walked into her new base, which was disguised like a large white house. She went upstairs, down the hall, into the room to the left; her lab.

"Computer, what have you found on the necklace?" She questioned.

"Other than it containing Irken tech and being millions of years old, it seems to be an older form of a pak..." The computer gave Tak a run through on every last one of the available documents about the necklace. (I figured you didn't want me to give the history of the necklace for a third time.)

Tak observed the necklace, "Computer, what would happen if I were to put this on?"

"It should stimulate the select areas of your brain based on the job it is intended for. This one is made for a warrior."

Tak smiled. "So if I put this on, then I should be a better warrior."

"It should increase your skill by 100%, but it could have unknown effects."

Tak lingered on the idea of putting it on, but hesitating on the warning of unknown effects. After a few minutes of thinking it through she decided to put it on. A flash of images went through her head.

Inside Tak's mind.

She looked around the vast darkness.

"What's going on here!?" She demanded.

Then a voice, sounding like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, emerged. "I claim this mind for myself, Warrior Grustnaught!"

"Who the bloody hell are you?"

"I am a warrior that protected the tallest over 50 million years ago! And now, thanks to you I am awakened!" The voice boomed.

"Not if I have anything to say about it..."

"You don't have a say." He interrupted. "As we speak, that work chip is downloading my consciousness into your body! Soon your body will be mine and you will be trapped deep within the chip."

"Ha! My pak contains my memories and consciousness so good luck with that!" She retorted.

"Well I guess it's a good thing that I can use your implant to amplify the psychic link from this chip!"

Tak tried to put up a fight through her pak, but it was fruitless. Within a minute Grustnaught was in total control. He looked around, very unfamiliar with the landscape. Mimi came in and quickly realized it wasn't Tak. Mimi charged, but Grustnaught was able to shut her off remotely with the implant. He began to run diagnostics on Tak's pak and looked through her memories to get quick information on the area and its inhabitants and updates on the empire for the past few million years.

'Wow, the life of this one is depressing and pathetic. And the empire sure has changed.' He thought to himself.

He began to search the base for a way to get in contact with the tallest and for weapons. 'No luck...' He thought to a memory of Tak's.

'It seems there is another Irken here...Zim is his name? Let's see, he should be based close by. Looks like I'll be paying him a visit since this pathetic base has nothing useful.'

XXXXXXXX

Back to Zim's house.

"What...what is...the meaning of this!?" Zim shouted sounding disturbed and frightened.

He ignored his question and grabbed Zim by his collar. "Where is the entrance to your base?"

"I'll never speak!" Zim spat trying to wrestle out of his hold.

"I have my ways of making others speak..." He kicked Zim with a force like no other. Zim coughed up blood. Grustnaught picked him up began beating Zim.

"TELL ME WHERE T BASE IS!" He said pausing his hits.

"I'll...never...speak..."

He threw Zim aside and began to tear the base apart. After a few minutes he found the entrance.

'Now to take all the weapons and get in contact with the tallest of this time.'

He went down to the base and began to go through the corridors. Door after door, he looked, when he got to the communications room he called the tallest.

XXXXXXXX

On the massive.

-INCOMING TRANSMISSION-

"Who is it?" Red whined.

"Its...Zim..." The communications officer answered.

Both Purple and Red sprayed their drinks out. "I thought we banished him. Answer it." Purple said.

When the call opened though they were utterly confused. "It what-her-face um...Tak!"

"I think not." The deep voice emerged startling the two leaders. "I am Warrior Grustnaught."

The two were completely puzzled and terrified. "Who?" Red finally asked.

"I did not expect you to know me, as I lived millions of years ago..."

"Then how are you alive?" Purple asked.

"My consciousness was uploaded into this body and it is now my tool to use."

"Okay this is cool and all, but why are you calling?" Purple interrupted.

"I am about to lay waste to this pitiful planet and am contacting you so that you can be ready to claim it when I do." Grustnaught announced.

"Nice, another planet to add to the empire!" Red said.

"Plus a slave race to go with it!" Purple added. "We'll be there in about a week."

"The planet will be finished before then, Grustnaught signing off!"

-END TRANSMISSION-

Back to Earth.

Zim was still alive, but barely. He managed to get up and find Gir who took him to Gaz's house to warn her and Dib.

XXXXXXXX

Gaz was in her room still trying to forget about finding her brother spying on her. Dib was in the living room watching his paranormal T.V. show until there was a knock. Dib opened the door to find a badly beaten Zim and a blood covered Gir carrying him with care.

Dib hated Zim, but he didn't enjoy seeing him like this. "What happened!?"

"THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION AND EVERYTHING WENT BOOM AND I GOT POWERED DOWN AND MASTER GOTBEATED UP AND THERE WAS  
15m ago THERE WAS TAK BUT IT WASN'T TAK AND..." Gir rambled, the words coming out so fast that they were impossible to understand.

"Gir chill!" Dib shouted

Gaz heard the noise and came downstairs to see a half-dead Zim. "Oh my God! Dub what did you do to him!?"

"Nothing! I found him like this! And why do you assume I did this?"

"This is no time to argue, we need to help him!" She screamed. "You've studied him for years, what can we did to fix him?"

"Well I never really studied his strengths, but I'm sure I canine so thing that can heal him up. In the mean time get some bandages and DON'T use water to clean the wound." He said making sure she heard not to use water.

XXXXXXXX

Man that was an exciting chapter! One small thing that in sure some people will ask, Grustnaught is pronounced like groost-not. Hope you enjoyed and if you do leave a review. I think gonna start up a weekly question, hmm...what's your favorite random thing? *voice in head* "Dude you gotta stop making these at midnight, your killing yourself!" Never, I will do what I have to to make the people happy! Now go away! OK well thanks for reading! THOOPID OUT!


	7. Preparations

Yay! Another chapter and this one isn't too bad if I say so myself! ? Here it is so enjoy and comment or review or what ever you call it.

* * *

Dib shuffled through his journals and notes he had made on Zim over the years as fast as he could, skimming through each page and searching for words that popped out. Then he found something, he ran downstairs as fast as he could trying not to trip as he ran.

"Okay I found something I wrote that might help! Its from when I broke into his base a few years ago; it says that there was a room that looked like a laboratory or medical room."

"No...too...dangerous." Zim murmured.

"Why, what happened?" Gaz asked.

Zim gestured Gir over. "Gir...play memory." He choked out, each word stinging him as they escaped his bruised body.

Gir saluted and the memory project out of his eyes.

Gaz and Dib looked closely. They saw The Monkey Show from Gir's perspective and then a massive explosion and the system down flashed, but the recording continued; everything now at an angle. Tak or, well, Grustnaught stepped over him and started to look around. Then Zim came up, the was no audio since Gir's systems were down, but they could tell that they were arguing. Then the rest was Grustnaught savagely beating Zim until he discovered the way in Zim's base.

"Why did Tak do that? I know she hates you, but she was never so personal and brutal with her attacks.

"Not...Tak..." He gasped. Gaz rolled him on his side and he began to cough up blood.

"Dib, right now we don't have time to figure out what happened. We need to patch him up." She said straining herself to sound calm at the sight of Zim in this condition.

"Well we can't take him to a hospital for obvious reasons, and his base is not safe right now so what do I exactly do Gaz?" Dib replied sarcastically.

"I'm not gonna argue with you right now." She said, trying to focus on the situation at hand.

"Alright, I'll go get some medical supplies and we'll just have to see how he reacts to certain things, unless Zim has knowledge of the effects of human medical supplies on Irkens." Dib looked to Zim and Zim painfully shook his head. "Okay I'll be back in ten minutes.

Dib left and Gaz looked at Zim. "I don't know what the hell is going on, but whatever it is, its not good..."

Zim's eyes were shut tight with pain and Gaz watched him helplessly as she could do nothing. She looked at his bruises and welt from his beating. She grabbed a cloth and began to clean him and Zim moaned in pain as she did so. Some of the hits seemed to have caused internal too, since there were places that were especially tender to touch.

"Alright Zim, I'm gonna ha to get all of the cuts so I need to sit you up, get ready."

Zim nodded and Gaz grabbed his arm to pull him up. Zim winced with pain as he leaned forward and pulled his knees to his chest. Gaz pulled off his shirt to reveal an array of welts and scars, some old, some new.

'Wow, Zim has been to hell and back within his lifetime...' She thought as she wiped the blood off.

They sat there in silence as Gaz tended to his bruises and cuts. "Alright I need to get your front now." She said, breaking the silence

Zim slowly leaned back, straightened his legs out, and leaned back on his arms to support himself. She started to wipe his chest and she noticed even more scars, these ones looking ever more intense and deeper than the others, but she remained quiet about them.

*"And then Gaz fell on top of Zim's topless body and they made sweet interspecies se-" ENOUGH! FIRST OF ALL THIS IS RATED T, NOT M! SECONDLY, EVEN THOUGH I LIKE ZAGR, I WONT WRITE A STORY LIKE THAT! NOW GET OUT, ITS ONE THING TO TALK WHEN I'M SPEAKING, BUT DURING A STORY!? "B-BUT..." OUT NOW! Ahem, sorry for that interruption back the story.*

Zim winced with pain as she dabbed and wiped. Gaz stood up. "I'll be back in a second." She left the room and when she came back, she had a needle and thread in her hand.

"What's that for?" Zim asked.

Gaz giggled a little. "Your has really high-tech equipment for everything huh? Its for the larger cuts on your body and you might feel a little-"

"GAAAHHH!" Zim screamed.

"...pinch."

"And humans do this every time you get severely injured?!" Zim questioned sounding irritated.

"Well normally we take an anesthetic before we do this, but we don't have any kind of pain killer, so yeah." She went to on to focus on stitching him up, then something popped in her head. "How are you already able to talk? Humans would take hours or even days to talk after a beating like that."

"My pak helps me heal at a more advanced rate than humans. That's why I can be in the rain for a short amount of time without severe damage to myself."

Dib finally came back with the supplies to see Gaz in front of a shirtless Zim in his living room.

"What's going on here!?" Dib screeched.

"Calm your t*** Dib, I'm just stitching him up." Gaz answered.

"Yeah, calm your mammary glands Dib. Zim added.

Gaz cracked a smile at Zim's comment and asked. "So what did you get?"

Dib dumped the bag out. "I got some more bandages just in case, three different types of pain killers to make sure there was something for him to numb the pain, and a sanitizing gel that doesn't have and I made sure it had a minimal amount of water in it. By the way, you owe me twenty bucks Zim."

"This isn't the best time to worry about monetary objects, there is a much bigger problem at hand." Zim retorted.

"So what did happen if that was Tak, but not Tak?" Dib asked.

"She has Gaz's necklace and she put it on like an idiot. The chip that the pendant has managed to upload it's consciousness onto her pak and is now in control of her. The name he gave me was Grustnaught."

"So is Tak still there or is she gone forever?" Dib asked sounding a little distressed. "Not that I care..."

Zim stared at him for a second and continued. "Well anyway, he's been at my base long enough to figure out how to work and hack into my database. So he's probably already grabbed my weapons and contacted the tallest. Not only that, but he most likely has a higher brain capacity since he was able to take control of Tak's pak meaning he can use her implant to control almost anyone; so until I find a way to counteract the implant you need to steer clear of Tak...er Grustnaught."

"Why do you care so much?" Dib asked.

"Well as dumb as it sounds, earth has become more of a home than any other place I have been in my entire life. And I don't care for you as much as I do for Gaz, so if a situation ever comes up where I have to make a choice don't be surprised if you're left to die."

Dib growled and Gaz blushed. "Noted." Dib grumbled, looking at Gaz out the corner of his eye.

"Well if we're going to stop him we need to make preparations and weapons. Until then, you two can continue to go to school, but I need to stay here since I no longer have my base. I'll try to make myself scarce around you, Dib if it compensates. I'll also try to keep Gir under control...if its possible." Zim said.

"There is no way you are staying here!" Dib yelled.

"Dib, has no other place to go and there's no other place on the planet that has the technology to create the stuff he'll...we'll need to fight Grustnaught and God knows what else."

Dib thought for a moment. "Fine, but he better keep to his promise and I better not regret my decision.

"Thank you Dib..." Zim said shocking Did with his sincerity.

"Just a few rules first. No exploding stuff, no experiments after eleven because I don't feel like staying up all night with the sound of a welder, and stop with the pranks."

Zim sighed at the last rule. "Fine."

* * *

QQQQQQQQ

Alright one sec. *Steps beck from tablet* Get over here!

Voice in head: What?

Me: You know what. What was that crap back in the middle of the chapter!?

Voice in head: I was just trying to please the people.

Me: Well don't ever pull something like ever again!

Voice in head: Okay sorry...

Me: Good now go I need to wrap this up.

Okay sorry for that. Hope you enjoyed leave a review and favorite this story if you did! If you do want to comment and are a guest, go ahead and do so I don't mind having to go through and approving the comment.

Weekly question: So what was your favorite song from the early 2000s. Mine is 'Teenagers' by My Chemical Romance.

THOOPID OUT!


	8. The Uprising

*VIDEO INTERMISSION*

Hey there people of the interwebs! So I was really excited for his next chapter meaning it is going to be more in depth and descriptive than usual, so that's all good news for you, but less sleep for me. *Quites to a whisper* No seriously, I've been kidnapped by someone and they're forcing me to write...

*There's a sound of a door being kicked open* What did I tell you about stopping!? *smack* *smack* Get to work!

*CONNECTION LOST*

* * *

"Damn it Gir, for the last time get out of my lab!"

"WAAAHHH WOOOOOO! WEEEEEE AHHHH! First you gotta catch me!"

Dib lunged across the room and tackled Gir who managed to shake his grip and continued to run around.

"Gir! I thought I told you to leave the Dib alone!" Zim shouted from the door.

"Aw man..." Gir trudged out of the room slightly whining as he did so.

"Zim, you need to he that thing under control! Look what he did to my lab! I thought we had an agreement, you stay here and you keep out of my way."

"Look Dib, I'll be able to fully control him once I finish the weapons and change out his control chip with a more stable one." Zim explained. "Plus I have been distracted with making the weapons and ,I am sorry to mention it, but the relationship I have with your sister."

Zim had been doing a lot more with Gaz lately. They had been to many different restaurants and parks, even though he had asked her not to. Gaz had really been pushing Zim be a little more comfortable with socializing to person allocated him to talk more to people and he had become more open to showing his affection for Gaz in public. The alien outcast definitely changed over the past week and was becoming more human than he had ever been Irken.

"That's still no excuse for my lab being completely destroyed. From now on if that robot so much as even comes near me, I will personally dismantle him and use the scrap for my own weapons. Understood?" Dib threatened.

"Got it." Zim replied.

Gaz came in. "Zim are you ready to go out." She asked with a smile on her face.

Dib shuddered; no matter how long it's been, he still wasn't used to this version of Gaz. It was so cheerful and happy, but still threatening when she needed to be, a deadly mix in his opinion. Not only had she still managed to scare the crap out of him when she caught him spying on her and Zim, but she was also calm and straight-headed when Zim showed up at their door a week ago.

"Yeah I just have to get Gir in the basement before we leave." The basement had become Zim's room and lab since had been allowed to stay. He headed down and he remembered something, 'Gaz's present!' He pulled a small box from under his makeshift bed and looked inside. "Good, Gir didn't get to it." He said to himself.

"Get to what?" Dib asked, sneaking up on him and startling him.

Zim jumped and gave him an angry look, but only for a moment. "Its a present for your sister. I've been doing research on human relationships lately and on thing that seemed consistent and particularly important was gift giving." He opened the box and showed Dib.

"Whoa, how did you get that?" Dib whispered almost breathless.

"I had to create it artificially and stabilize it."

"Well, see you later. Should be back at around 5!" He shouted going up the basement stair.

VVVVVVVV

When Zim was gone Dib decided to look around the lab and he walked around until he came upon a red, round, metal box. "Must be the weapons he's working on." He opened the box to reveal an array of large and small guns, from large rifles to small pistols. Each looking just as deadly as the last. He continued on walking around looking at all the gadgets and inventions around the room.

He passed a cylindrical object with a symbol similar to the one on his shirt, but when he tried to open it, it was locked. It seemed to be an incubator of some kind since it was connected to another tank with a nutrient solution inside. "Curious." Dib said quietly.

"I wonder why he never managed to take over earth if he could make weapons like this." Then he turned to a closet the had been added by Zim. He opened it and found Gir on a machine that appeared to be doing diagnostics and routine maintenance. The Gir's eyes turned blue and a computer announced he was powering up.

"No no no no no!" Dib began to mash buttons and pull levers trying anything to get the mini atrocity to power back off, but it was fruitless. 'Well I can't blame Zim this time...' He thought to himself as he ran to shut the door before the robot was loose.

VVVVVVVV

Zim and Gaz walked down the street to the cliffs on the shore where they set up a picnic, although Zim wasn't able to eat much he was just as happy as Gaz. They sat there for a few hours just talking and messing around (no not 'messing around'). When Zim had the chance he reached into the basket, pulled out the box, and opened it to reveal a mini blue star inside of a clear shell.

Gaz's eyes widened at the sight of it. "What is it?"

"Its a blue star. I managed to create it and contain it; the tricky part was the getting the case right. I had to make sure it would absorb the UV rays, radiation, heat, and make it strong enough to resist the nuclear reactions, but I had to also make sure you could still see the light. The case is the only thing that keeps the entire city safe, without it the heat and radiation would immediately kill everyone." He stopped for a second. "I guess in a way it reminds me of you, a burning flame contained by a case, your casing being this planet."

"Wow. I don't know what to say...'" She muttered

"Don't, your reaction says it all. I glad you're pleased, as I have never given a 'gift' before."

"Pleased? This is the best and coolest gift I have ever gotten in my entire life. I wish I had a gift for you."

"You're gift enough."

"Wow, that was so cheesy I can taste it." She laughed.

""Yeah, I know, sorry." Zim said blushing.

VVVVVVVV

Meanwhile back at the house.

"Gir get back here that is not a toaster!" Dib yelled.

"Weeee wooooooo! Wahhhhh woooo woooo ahhhhhh!" The tiny robot screeched.

VVVVVVVV

Zim and Gaz laid on the blanket for a while talking about what happened over the last few weeks and the dangers of the necklace. Then they stopped for a moment and Gaz broke the silence.

"So Zim..."

"Yeah?"

"I have a question..."

"Hmm?"

"Well when I was cleaning you up after you showed up on the doorstep, I noticed the scars you have and I was wonder-" Zim stopped her and answered.

"Look, that is a darker part of my past and I prefer not to disturb by mentioning it."

"Why?" She asked puzzled. "You're not normally secretive about anything with me lately."

"Let's just say there was a not-so-small explosion at camp caused by someone you may or may not know and they were repeatedly beaten for a few weeks."

'Sooner or later she's going to have to find out the truth...' He thought to himself. Then there was an explosion in the distance.

"What was that!?" Gaz asked quickly and startled by the loud boom.

"I don't know, but it can't be good." Zim said, as the explosion had come from downtown. "I think we need to get back as fast as possible and get the weapons." He continued with a stone cold tone in his voice.

"I agree.." Gaz said nervously.

They gathered their things and ran down the road to Gaz's house.

"Dib! Did you see that!?" Gaz gasped, out of breath.

Dib just sat there in silence with a shocked and horrified look on his face and he pointed to the T.V. which had the news playing.

"No..." Gaz said in denial.

*T.V. screen*  
-Breaking News-  
-Membrane laboratory explosion-

"There has been a massive explosion at the Membrane Lab!" The news reporter said as he ran from the news van towards the sidewalk near the burning and collapsed building. "First responders are on the scene and there have been no reported survivors yet."  
2 hours ago. As reporter finished his sentence he was interrupted by Grustnaught who was on a hovering platform in the air. "People of earth!" He announced in a booming voice. "I have destroyed your most advanced lab on the planet along with every last one of the scientists, yet I am still not challenged by your weapons. It is because of this I find no use for your planet and have scheduled it to be destroyed within the next 24 hours. Unless your planet proves to be useful within this time period, the Irken empire will lay waste to each and every last one of the humans just as I have done here." He finished and the platform zoomed off toward Zim's base.

The camera went back to the reporter who was standing the with his jaw dropped until he finally collected himself and continued. "There you have it...the human race is due to extinction within the next day unless we become a reckoned force..." He said defeated.

*Back to Gaz, Zim, and Dib*

"Dad..." Gaz dropped to her knees and cried.

Dib didn't cry, but rather became furious. "THAT PIECE OF CRAP GRUSTNAUGHT JUST MADE THIS A WHOLE NEW KIND OF FIGHT..." He voice deepened slightly and became stern. "This fight is now not only a fight for my existence along with the rest of the human race, but it's now personal..."

Zim was confused. 'But was the father not ever home or even the for them? I guess this is one of the many things that Irkens can never understand about the bond between parent and child.' He thought. He walked toward Gaz and comforted her. "Listen, I will not rest or until I find him and stop him..."

"NO, NOT STOP...KILL..." Dib interrupted. "He crossed the line already when he took Tak from me, but it's a whole new level when he kills someone you love, when he kills family..."

Zim looked up with Gaz still clutched to his chest. "What do you mean 'Took Tak from you?"

"Wah? I...I never said that!" He stammered.

"Yes you did."

"Okay fine, I guess I still kinda have a crush on Tak. I mean you can't blame me, when she came the first time we met, she was one of the only people in the skool to hang out and listen to me. She tolerated my constant yammering about the supernatural and she shares, mutual hate for you." He admitted.

"Well don't dwell on it. Even if we stop Grustnaught, it is very unlikely that her consciousness is still intact after being suppressed for so long." Zim explained. Dib nodded his in acceptance.

"Now we need to get the weapons. They're not fully complete, but they'll work for now until I stabilize their power cores." Zim helped Gaz up and wiped the tears off of her cheek and they went to the basement.

"Why is the basement destroyed?" Zim asked in an annoyed tone.

"Oh...right...well you see, I sorta let Gir out and he started running around and he ran around destroying stuff, but I managed to stop him." Dib said.

Zim pressed his fingers on the spot where a person's bridge of their nose would be like he had a headache. "I'll yell at you later. We desperately need to find Grustnaught and take back my base."

They gathered the weapons and ran out towards Zim's base.

'This is it Dib, this is the biggest war, humanity has ever faced, the fight for life, existence, the fight for all of humanity.' The blood began to course through his veins at an incredible speed, adrenaline pumping throughout his body and an almost deadly look fell upon his face. 'This is your fight to win, this is going to be your first and final fight or your final doom...'

* * *

So I'm in the forest right now, don't know exactly where, I managed to get away using a paperclip, a can, my shoelace, and gum and I'm home finishing this up quickly before whoever kidnapped me finds me. That was one intense chapter and there you go, some DATR for the select few who requested it, let your imagination go wild over what will happen in the next chapter! Well I'm going to cut me talking short cause I had PSATs today so I'm really tired. Please review what you thought and later. THOOPID OUT!


	9. Raising an Army

Hello again interwebs and welcome to another exciting chapter of The Lost Necklace! One quick thing before I start, make sure you check out the previous chapter first because I noticed that there wasn't a whole of people who had checked it out, so make sure you read it otherwise this chapter will be super confusing. We here we go, next chapter...

OoOoOoOoO

The house came into view, showing no signs of damage from before.

Dib dashed past Gaz and Zim catching them off guard. He ran up to the house dodging the defenses with speed he never had shown before and rammed down the door without losing any momentum. When Gaz and Zim finally caught up Dib had already started to tear through the base trying find an entrance.

"I'M GONNA KILL THE BASTARD!" He screamed.

He took his riffle and began to blast out walls and floors until he found the entrance.

"Dib!" Gaz yelled after him as she and Zim ran in following him.

"The idiot's going to get us noticed before we even get to Grustnaught..." Zim said as they ran.

"You can't blame him, he's trained himself his whole life for this war...the war for the human race's existence and their opportunity to leave their mark in the history of the universe." Gaz said.

"WHERE ARE YOU, YOU COWARD!? COME OUT AND PROVE YOU'RE THE WARRIOR YOU CLAIM TO BE!" There was an echo of his voice and then silence. "COME ON! FIRST YOU KILL MY FATHER, THEN YOU THREATEN MY PLANET, AND NOW YOU WON'T EVEN FACE ME?!" He continued to yell.

"He's not here Dib..." Gaz said as she grabbed his shoulder.

Dib shook her off. "Well where is he then?! He didn't just disappear, and we all saw that he headed this way. So where did he go?!"

"Dib calm down! He's obviously cleaned house and left, I mean there's none of my technology that would be of use to us right now. Which means he's most likely moves base to orbit. Its the safest place for him since this planet is due for conquest." Zim explained.

"Then how do we take the fight to him?" Dib snapped, sounding both determined and impatient at the same time.

"Look, its not that easy. I cant believe I'm about to say this, but we need to get earth ready to defend against the armada." Zim said. "There are over 15 billion Irken warriors meaning for every human on earth, they need to kill 2 warriors and that's without subtracting your young, sick, disabled, and elderly. If we're to win this water we need to be logical about it and not charge in head first."

"You're right, let's go." Dib replied. "Come on Gaz, let's search for anything left an d go home."

"I'm worried about him..." Gaz whispered. "The danger of planet wide destruction is more real than ever and this is what he has trained himself for, for most of his life despite what everyone said. And now that everyone has been proved wrong, he needs the courage to assemble an army strong enough to defeat an army hundreds times it's size. The pressure on him is immense."

"I agree, as much as I hate to admit it, he's in more danger right now than he ever was with me." Zim whispered back.

OoOoOoOoO

They opened the door with a few scraps of Irken tech and set them on the table in Dib's kitchen.

"I'm afraid this all we could find..." Gaz said nervously.

"That's plenty. With the technology in your..." Zim paused. "...dad's lab, I can reverse engineer this into more useful weapons and equipment, something that will make these guns look like pea shooters."

Zim picked them up and headed to Professor Membrane's lab.

"Well while he's doing that, we should go and try to get some help. I mean we're good, but not good enough to kill 15 billion alien warriors." Gaz said.

"Yeah, sure." Dib walked upstairs and went to his room closing and locking the door behind him.

"Well looks like its up to me to get people on board with on this..." Gaz said to herself as she headed out the door.

OoOoOoOoO

Gaz walked down the chaotic streets of downtown looking around as she saw criminals, citizens, public servants, and even children, loot stores and destroy buildings. She saw mass groups attacking people like animals, but she finally snapped when she saw a man get shot over something as simple as a battery pack.

"LOOK AT YOURSELVES!" She screamed. Everyone stopped and stared. "IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN A DAY AND YOU'RE ACTING LIKE SAVAGES!" She stood quietly for a second. "YES, WE ARE THREATENED BY EXTINCTION , BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN WE HAVE TO GO DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT. HUMANS HAVE BEEN IN SOME MASS SCALE WARS, BUT WE HAVE SURVIVED. WE HAVE GONE TO THE MOON AND BEYOND. ARE YOU GOING TO JUST LET OUR HISTORY BECOME A SKID MARK ON THE UNDERWEAR OF THE UNIVERSE, OR ARE YOU GOING TO FIGHT TO WIN AND BECOME THE SUPREME FORCE OF THIS UNIVERSE? HUMAN KIND HAS MANAGED TO HARNESS THE POWERS OF SOME OF THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE FORCES IN THE UNIVERSE. WE HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS, WE HAVE MISSILES, WE HAVE GUNS, AND IF WE HAVE TO, WE HAVE OUR BARE HANDS..."

Someone from the crowd called out "How are we going to fight off these alien? We're no warriors, hell some of us don't even know how to use a gun."

"Then you will learn with what little time we have left. We need people who can build and follow orders, people who are willing to fight and survive or die trying, people who will look death in the eye and spit in his face. We will no longer be ignorant and wonder what the future holds because today, we make our future and I see a future where earth is alive and humans are the superior species. Now who is willing to fight for that future?"

The air was intense as Gaz waited for a response, not knowing if it will be positive or not. Then a large man with a bat stepped forward, towering over Gaz with a solid and stern look on his face. "I'll fight."

Then another stepped up. "Me too." And another and another and eventually the whole crowd had volunteered to fight for the cause. People willing to push their differences aside and fight side by side for a common goal.

Gaz looked at the crowd and was proud of herself. "This may be a large amount of people, but this is nowhere near enough, we are expected to fight a war not a battle. Spread the word we only have a few hours to prepare for this fight and we're going to need every person who is able run, breath, kick, punch, and fight. However, if you have some sort of experience with engineering, come with me I have a special plan for you."

OoOoOoOoO

Zim was putting the finishing touches on the guns when he heard noises coming from outside he ran to the window in the living room to find a mob of people outside. He threw on his wig and lenses and went outside once he saw Gaz at the front.

"What is this?" Zim asked as he walked up to Gaz.

"Its the army, or well at least part of it." She answered.

Zim looked puzzled. "What do you mean 'part of it'?"

"The rest is gathering up more people to help. These people are here to help build."

Zim's face grew more puzzled. "Build what? I barley finished reverse engineering the stuff we managed to find."

"My dads blueprints, he has most of him here and he has some insane weapons and tools that this planet has ever seen. I talking teleporters, mini thermonuclear grenades, battle armor that increases a humans physical attributes tenfold.

"Alright, but where do you think we're going to get the materials for these?" Zim asked.

"We'll look through the dumps, use car parts, anything to get use what we need to save this planet and okay? Now where's dib?" Gaz said.

"I think he's still in his room doing who knows what."

Gaz went to Dib's room and knocked in the door. "Dib?" There was no answer, but she could hear a quiet whisper. "Dib?" She knocked again.

She went to open the door, but it was locked. "What are you doing in there?" She whispered to herself.

"Where are the blueprints?" Zim called from downstairs.

She went down. "They're in his lab drawers."

They went to the lab and began to work on her dad's many inventions with the many volunteers. Zim got frustrated having to tell them where to put each piece and eventually they settled with using an assembly line to construct the weapons, luckily the lab was huge and there was extra space in the back yard to store the needed materials and the weapons.

Within an hour the whole house had become a warehouse for creating weapons and building an army.

"Gaz!" Dib yelled or the noisy house. "What's going on here?"

"We have a growing army and a steady supply of weapons being provided."

"Gaz..." He said in a irritated tone.

"What?"

"You have gathered a militia, not an army. We need trained soldiers."

"Well how exactly do I do that. I guess I'm going to go straight up to the White House and demand to talk with someone and HOPE to get lucky." She said sarcastically.

"That's why I went upstairs. I started talking to the Swollen Eyeballs and I managed to convinced them to pull some strings to get a conference with President and some other higher ups within an hour." He explained.

"Then what do we do with these people?" She asked.

"They can still help fight, we need absolutely every able bodied person there is, but like I said, we still need trained professionals to help.

OoOoOoOoO

The chopper landed in the street and the President along with some of his guards stepped out. Dib walked up to him and shook his hand.

"You must be Dib." He said. "I must say, I've heard some impressive things about you from your Swollen Eyeball buddies." He pulled out a paper and began to list things. "A 156 IQ score, you've had a few inventions of your own and you show exceptional test scores at skool."

"Well thank you sir, can we go inside so we can talk."

"Sure, but first I hope you don't mind that invited a few others to come along." He motioned his hand and representatives from several countries stepped out. "These are some of the leaders from Germany, England, Afghanistan, India, Spain, Russia, Japan, and China. We've all agreed to out our differences aside to work at this together and when this is over we will continue to do so. I guess you can say this threat has opened our eyes to what is needed to be done."

They walked inside. And went into one of the many unused rooms to talk.

"Gaz were going to talk for a little bit, but I'm going to need Zim to help me do some convincing."

Gaz understood. "Alright I'll get him."

Zim came over a few moments later. "Yeah Dib?"

"I need you to help us do some planning and stuff for the initial battle."

"Fine, but I need to get back here as soon as possible to make sure the weapons are made correctly." Zim said.

"Consider it done." Dib replied.

OoOoOoOoO

"So leaders, I have taken the liberty of coming up with a plan for our defensive actions." Zim said. "The first and most important thing that will need to be done is we need to cripple the soldiers. To do this we need to use their most painful and effective weakness against them...water. To them water burns like how a battery acid would burn you. Saying this I would advise sticking with your navy and trying to find ways of interpreting some form of water into your weaponry. Next, you need to attack their mother ship before it arrives. That ship has a single fire laser that is capable of causing planet-wide destruction. To have the capability to even cause slight damage to the ship we need to take control of a station that is being used by the alien that introduces the threat to us. On this station there is an array of laser cannons that, if amplified, could penetrate their shields and allow us to do direct damage to them."

"How do you know so much about them?" The President asked.

Zim looked at Dib and Dib nodded at him and Zim removed his disguise. "Because I was once one of them..."

OoOoOoOoO

Man I am cranking out these chapters like a machine! I got this one done in a day. Woo! Well I hope you liked this chapter and if you did you should know what to do by now, review and favorite. THOOPID OUT!


	10. Plan A: Step One

Okay so I have somethings to say. WHERE DID ALL THE REVIEWS GO LAST WEEK?! Please don't take this as much bitching. I'm just thing, okay so I went back and read the last two chapters of mine and wow, I really let it go to crap. It was really bad, there were plot holes, missing words, and I just kinda let my imagination take the wheel and forgot logic so that's my fault. So I'm going to attempt to redeem myself by making the next few chapters of this story as awesome as possible. There will be action, there will be depression, and there will be romance! So buckle up and hold onto something. This is going to be epic!

* * *

Dib walks up to what appears to be a temporary command center and turns on a monitor.

"Dib. What took you so long?" The President asked.

"I got caught up going over the strategy with the soldiers."

"That's no excuse, every moment is precious time we don't have." The President scolded. "We barley managed to muster up ten million trained soldiers and forty million more that are being given a very brief training session!"

"Relax sir, we have a great confidence in the trained soldiers to teach the volunteers how to fight at defend. Now what was it that you called me for?" Dib asked.

"Oh right, so the other leaders and I have been talking and we decided that your buddy. What's his name...Zim is not trustable and we are going to need to keep him detained until we know what to do." The President said.

"With all due respect, I highly advise against it, he's proved he is plenty trustworthy. He gave us their weaknesses and a strategy that none of us could have even thought of, plus he's an exile to his own people." Dib explained.

"And why's that...?" The President asked sarcastically.

"Because he is able to experience emotions of affection, something that none of race feels. From what I understand, they have no sense of love, affection, sadness, and they're only loyal to their superiors." He said. "In other words he's a rebel to the system of their society which is whole lot like a dictatorship. I also thought we, the land of the free, helped bring down dictatorships, not lock up the people responsible for a political revolution."

"Well this is different..."

"And how exactly is it different?" Dib interrupted, getting more aggressive with each word. "Whether or not they're aliens, they are here to kill us all, or enslave us and use us for their own needs. We have no significance to them and even if we're superior to them, they are going to try to end our civilization in fear of being pushed aside in the future." Tears of anger and pain from the sudden realization of the situation, ran down Dib's cheeks. "Don't you see? If we don't get all the help we can, we'll never win and in the end our civilization will be eradicated without reaching the potential we have. I believe we as a civilization, are meant for so much more, and this is our chance to take a step in the direction of legends."

"I think I understand...but your still going to have wait until I have convinced the other leaders to free your friend. I'll talk to them and hopefully I can convince them, but in the mean time you need to continue what you've been doing and speed up; we only have a few hours left before we need to take the first steps of our plan."

"Understood."

-TRANSMISSION OVER-

Gaz is walking by the door as Dib leaves the room with a concerned look.

"So are they going to let him go?"

"No...they need to discuss it before they do. I'm sorry." He said. "We better get back to assembly area..."

The two of them walked quietly back to the lab.

"Hey!" A man called. "You two still need to be trained too. Just because you made this possible doesn't mean you excluded. We only have enough time to train each group for an hour so it won't take too long."

OOOOOOOO

-TWO HOURS LATER-

Dib and Gaz, along with hundreds of other helicopters, landed at the base. When everyone got out they were instructed to wait in the large courtyard until further notice. After about five minutes the intercom turned on, initially letting out a loud screech.

"Attention volunteers. You have given yourselves for the greater good of humanity and on behalf of all the nations worldwide, I thank you for this. Now we have discussed a plan based on basic defense. Commander Viscera here, will explain it to you."

There was a sound of the microphone being handed over and another voice was heard. "The plan is simple.

Step one. You should have received brief training of simple combat strategy and know-how. The next part is we need to take is we are going to use the teleporters that have been supplied to us by the Membranes, and transport to a station that we have recently discovered in orbit. We will send in two teams. Team A and B. Team A move towards the docking station and secure it while Team B will move in on the control room. When team B reaches the room, they will capture the hostile, allowing me to use the controls to turn the ship around and aim the cannon in the opposite direction.

Step two. After assuming control of the station, we will wait and prepare for the mothership, known as The Massive. When they come into sight I will fire the laser and destroy the shields. This will allow us to do some serious damage using what ever weapons we have and launch the initial attack.

Step three. Once we have punched a hole in the defenses, will move in and dock onto their ship. We will not use the teleporters to make sure we are precise with where we enter. Once we get on, the rest of the fight is uphill. We will face footsoldiers, heavy weapons specialist, and the private guard. We'll fight our way to the control room and and stop them before they arrive.

Step four. Once we have the control room, they will be relentless to get it back. Which is why I will leave through a back route with a few soldiers to capture their leaders and force em to retreat. From there we will drive them off."

The microphone was handed back with a quiet thud. "Okay, each of you should have received a digital watch with a built-in messenger. Those of you that have have been chosen for the first step of plan, your watches will be receiving a layout of the plan and you will continue to receive the steps as we progress. You are to follow the instructions to the letter and be as quick as possible in completing the tasks." There was a wave of quiet beeps as everyone received the message. "Alright you will have two minutes to review the plan and then its showtime. The rest of you will be receiving extra training in combat."

Dib looked down at the watch as he received one of the few messages. 'Wait, what do we do if these plans don't work?' He thought. 'Do we just sit there and pray that we can pull off a miracle, or do we just accept our fate and give up?' He shook these thoughts out of his head and began to make his way to the teleporters. He stepped on the teleporter with Team B and waited.

After a few minutes they were finally taken to the station. It was dark and creepy area that they were teleported to, but it wasn't too far front the control room.

They began their sweep of the halls. They walked through empty hallway after empty hallway. The ceiling had wires hanging from it and the walls looked a bit rusty. Had this been one of Zim's that he had used to try to conquer so many times? And if it was, then why hadn't it been noticed before or was it kept secret by the government. Dib stopped his imagination before he began to run through a bunch of conspiracy theories and get himself distracted.

It was quiet, an eerie quiet, the kind that drives a normal person insane. Then suddenly they heard small little taps, something that sounded like metal on metal. The taps grew louder and louder. Then spider sentries began to come out of the vents.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY!?" Someone cried.

"FALL BACK! FALL BACK!" Another yelled.

They opened fire and began to back up. They backed into a room a shot anything that entered. Within ten minutes they no longer heard the robots.

'That was easy...too easy.' Dib got a little nervous and walked up to the Commander Viscera. "Sir, doesn't something about this feel a little...I don't know...off?"

"Your right. Those weren't traps, they're a distraction, but from what?" He paused. "I better check on Team A. He pressed his finger against his earpiece and spoke as clearly as possible. "TEAM A, COME IN. WHAT IS YOUR STATUS?" There was no answer. "TEAM A, WHAT IS YOUR STATUS?" He continued two more times and he was about to give up when there was a voice.

-"THIS IS TEAM A COMMANDER, WE ARE CURRENTLY UNDER HEAVY FIRE."-

"WHAT IS SHOOTING?" Viscera asked.

-"THESE GIANT ROBOTS! THEY CAME BURSTING THROUGH THE WALLS AND OPENED FIRE!"

"DEAR GOD, THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! GET BACK!" Someone in the background shouted.

"THEY JUST KEEP COMING! WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM?!" Another voice yelled.-

They heard a bloodcurdling yell for mercy and the channel cut off.

"Hello? HELLO? COMMANDER!" Viscera yelled.

There was a terrified look on each person's face as they heard the people die on the other end of the mic.

"What the hell were those things?" Someone asked.

Dib looked at Commander Viscera helplessly. "What do we do?"

The commander just sat there with a hard look for a moment. "We continue on with the plan." He finally answered.

"Are you kidding me?" One of the volunteers said. "Did you not just hear that on the radio? I don't know about you, but I'm not sticking around to find out what those things were."

"My ass you are leaving where exactly are you gonna go? We're over a hundred miles in orbit. We are here to fight, not be in the comfort of our homes and take it easy." The commander said in a stern tone. "Do want to be remembered as that coward who ran away, or do you want to be one of the many brave souls who fought for the cause of humanity? The ones who humanity will thank and honor, even decades after we are gone. We are the last hope for the human race."

The man's look changed to a guilty one. "What if I don't want to be remembered as a fighter. What if I just want to spend my final moments with my family?"

"None of us do, but that doesn't give you the right to abandon the mission. Without fear there is no bravery, only actions, and without bravery we have no heroes. Now let's keep going." He nudged his head towards a door at the end of the hallway.

Halfway down the hallway the radio turned on and a slightly shaken up voice spoke.

-"Sir this is Team A, most of us are alive and well." The all too familiar voice said. "We have people setup in defensive positions and we managed to fight to fight off those things.-

"What's the damage to the team?"

\- "We're a little shaken up and we have sustained a few injuries and two deaths."-

"Where's your team commander?" Viscera asked.

-"Dead, he was shot in the head. It's just us right now, but most of us are fine. Carry on with your objective and we'll meet at the docks." The voice answered.-

"Just try to stay low and we'll be done soon."

The team continued down the hallway and they reached a large door. Viscera took out a thermite grenade and stuck it to the wall.

"Alright everyone..." He said as he pulled out a remote detonator. "...get ready."

There was click and a small explosion. When the smoke cleared the door stood with a hole melted clean through. Three people entered the room and called everyone in when they confirmed it was clear.

"Wait, if Grustnaught isn't here, then where is he?" Dib asked nervously.

"That's not what's important, we need to focus on getting in control of this station. We'll deal with him when he comes to us." The commander said.

"One more question. How exactly are you going to use computer if you don't read Irken?"

"Well you see, one of the many incredible inventions of your father, may he rest in peace, was a device that can decipher any kind of language, known or unknown, in a few minutes. However, it is still untested so we're really making a blind gamble on this."

Suddenly Dib stiffened as heard a loud wave of metal-on-metal clamps from far away. It sounded like a bigger version of the spider sentries that attacked earlier, but this time he knew whatever they were, those were what had attacked Team A.

"Sir, something's coming and it doesn't sound friendly." One of the volunteers informed.

"Okay everyone, battle positions. You two take front ranks, you four provide extra fire from further back, everyone else take middle, and Dib and I will stand by the device and protect it."

Everyone rushed to the instructed spots and waited.

Thud...thud...thud...thud. The noise drew closer and closer. Thud...thud. The electrified air intensified the moment and everyone readied their weapons. Thud. Down the hallway stood six robots, each at least six and half feet in height. They had heavy armor-plating and were equipped with what appeared to be a laser pistol on their hand, a plasma shotgun on the wrist, and a type of minigun on the back.

The three at the front opened fire, taking out the legs first to slow them down. Then the middle line began to fire at their arms to immobilize them. Then the two lines finished them off together. Right when they about to start celebrating, another group of the spider sentries poured out of the vents in the control room. Along with them, more of the larger robots were. Coming from down the hall.

Viscera began shooting at the spiders. "You four in the back provide covers fire for first and middle rank. Dib and I will cover you two and the device." He shouted.

First rank once again took out the legs of the larger ones, but this time some the spider sentries ran to them and hoisted them on their back and continued to advance. One person in first rank fell back as they got shot in the shoulder, but they got up, clutching their shoulder with one hand and shooting with the other. The robots drew closer and closer and they began to use the shotguns.

"Get away from the doors! Switch to armor-piercing rounds and try to focus your fire on the body." Viscera continued to yell.

A sentry attempted to jump on the device, but a knife came flying through the air and tore it right in half. Dib looked at it and Viscera pulled it out as he continued to shoot. The robots reached the door and were about to clean out the room with the miniguns when a grenade landed in the middle of them.

"GET DOWN!" Dib yelled before hearing an explosion.

Viscera looked at his belt and one thermite grenade was missing. "That was reckless and dangerous! But otherwise very smart and resourceful.

They cleared out the last of the sentries and finally were able to relax. There was a faint beep and Viscera walked to the device. He put on a pair of goggles and began to type away. Dib and everyone else could feel the station move as it began to turn away from earth. When it stopped Viscera took off the goggles and walked over to a small podium with a button and carved 'laser' onto the side.

"Alright let's meet up with Team A."

* * *

Well, hopefully I redeemed myself with this chapter and keep a look out for the next one! As usual, if you enjoyed this story, please favorite and review!

Now for the weekly question. Besides Invader Zim, what is your favorite cartoon? (Old, new, doesn't matter.)

Well i'm gonna cook up another chapter, see ya'll later. THOOPID OUT!


	11. The Return

HELLO AGAIN AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN! So, as usual, I have some things to say before you continue. Number one, wow I never realized how much writing has helped me relieve stress! Number two, this chapter is not fluff, it is setting things up for the next chapter and tying up loose ends. Number three, the next two chapters will be something I've been planning to do since the beginning of this story, its a story/song mash-up. I want to do this because I believe it will add to the moods of these chapters and if you don't like that, deal with it. And four, I'm not sure what the quality of this chapter will be because I wanted to get to the action really bad! Now do as I command and read!

* * *

"Sir, the base is fully functional and the translator is hooked up to our computer systems." One of the volunteers said.

"Okay, I'll take three of you and rally up with Team A to check out their condition. The rest of you stay here just in case the alien shows up." Viscera said. "Dib you stay here, you're the best trained in technology and have the most battle experience."

"Got it." He acknowledged.

The four soldiers came back about ten minutes later.

"So how's Team A?" Dib asked.

Viscera sat down on a box and relaxed for a moment. "Besides the commander dying, they're all fine considering the amount of robots that attacked. I have to give it to her, your sister knows how to fight."

"Wait, she was with Team A!?" He shouted. 'I thought that voice on the radio was familiar, but the static was too loud.'

"Yeah, I thought you knew." He said peeking out from underneath his helmet.

"Well I didn't, I'd appreciate it if you told me something like that next time." He said in a nasty tone.

"Hey, I may be a commander, but that doesn't mean I have to keep track of everyone, I'm not playing babysitter for you. Keep tack of your sister yourself." Viscera replied in a passive-aggressive way.

Dib took in a deep breath. "Just let me know next time." He said as he walked toward the door.

"And were are you going?"

"To see my sister." Dib said without looking back. "I think you and everyone else can manage here."

"You better be back in five, we don't have any time for socializing!" The commander yelled as Dib walked down the hallway.

UUUUUUUU

"Hey Dib." Gaz said noticing him as he walked in. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with your Team getting the systems ready?"

"Yeah, but I guessed I should see how you are after that attack. What are you guys doing here?"

"We are making sure nothing comes in or out and we are looking through the weapons to see if we can find anything with a little more 'umf' to it." Gaz answered.

"Any luck there?"

"Yes and no. We found some weapons, but they're locked in a room and it has one heck of security system installed." She trailed off and the two stood for a moment in an awkward silence be fore Gaz finally spoke again. "So what's going on with Zim? What are they planning to do?"

"All I know is that they have him locked up until they're convinced he's no threat. He did help make the plan we're using right now, so that might help convince them that he's no threat to us. The decision should be made in the next hour if they plan to make use of him."

"And what'll happen if they see him as threat?"

Dib shook his head and Gaz felt like collapsing to the ground.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do to have any influence of any kind on the decision. I got lucky as it is, being able to talk to the President and that was because of the agents in The Swollen Eyeball." He looked at his watch. "I gotta go. I'll see you later." And without even thinking he hugged her, something he would have never done a few weeks ago. He quickly pulled back half expecting her to hit him, but to his surprise she seemed glad that he did. "Later..."

UUUUUUUU

Zim hung from the table strapped in. He knew that escape was useless and pointless, as there were two guards ahead of him, plus it wouldn't be any help in convincing them to let him go.

"They'll have you now." One of the guards said as he walked over, undid his straps, and cuffed him.

Everything had been a blur for Zim in the past few hours, one moment he was having a picnic and the next he's defending earth from the Irken Empire. He himself tried to process how things had escalated so quickly-

*"Maybe that's because of your genius idea of making all this occur within 24 hours. Or maybe its the fact that you let logic go out the window in all of this. Hmmm..."

Okay, first of all, where have you been? Second, why are you interrupting another chapter!?

"Well let's see...you got tired of me so you didn't think to add me in anymore until now. After all, I am just another one of your ideas. As you talk, your just arguing with yourself!"

Look, I don't have any time for your weird philosophy, I'm trying to write a chapter.

You don't ever have time!"

Exactly! I'm a very busy person! Now whether you like it or not, I'm ending the conversation and going back to the story. Now where was I?*

Zim was dragged into the large room filled with global leaders of nearly every nation in the world and put on his knees with his hands still bound behind him.

"Look, Zim is it? You are a trusted colleague of Dib's, but according to The Swollen Eyeballs, you have a history of pulling stunts like this. I have no idea how we missed half of these, but they happened, so what's to keep you from doing it again?"

Zim looked up and looked back down. "I have no reason to..."

"Excuse me?" One of the leaders asked.

He looked back up. "I have no reason. To my people I'm dead, an outcast, a freak, a...defect." Zim said choking a little on the last word.

"And why's this?" Another leader asked.

"I'm a free thinker." He said softly. "My race is genetically engineered to take orders from the time we are created and not feel emotions of affection toward anything. However, there are a few of us who have an error in our DNA coding, we are called the defects. Defects either have something physically wrong, have the ability to feel love, or they don't follow orders."

"So you're the rejects." Someone commented.

"Precisely, I'm not a blind follower or a machine that will kill without a question, unlike the soldiers of my race. I am independent and freethinking, and in the years I have been here, I have come to love at least one thing. I am no threat to you, in fact by keeping me here your being a threat to yourselves." Zim warned.

"And how exactly are we a threat to ourselves?" Someone asked.

"I know what to do to get the Armada's attention. I know who to kill. I know how to counteract every weapon and soldier. I am the needed information you don't have."

"Why set you free if we can just force the information out?"

"Because that would be a waste of time, plus I'm willing to give the information regardless if I'm free or not, but me being free would be if more help. I could fight and be more efficient than ten of your soldiers. Hell, I could've escaped hours ago, but that wouldn't help my case." Zim said.

The leaders looked at one another for a moment, some murmuring. "We will discuss this matter in private for a few minutes. Guards, take him outside the room for a moment."

The two guards grabbed him and yanked him to his feet. When they were outside the guards sat him down in a bench. "So, just to be curious, how could have you escaped?"

Without a word Zim stood up and opened his pak legs, towering over the guards. "And these are just part of it, I have several weapons and tools inside this." He retracted his legs and sat back down while the guards stood in shock.

The door to the room opened and someone called out. "You may come in now."

The guards shook themselves and pulled Zim back into the room. "Zim you have been a major threat to earth in the past, trying to conquer earth multiple times and sometimes causing massive damage." The speaker paused. "However, according to Dib, within these last few weeks you seemed to have developed a sense of humanity. You helped build an army without even asking for a reward and you created a plan that none of us, possibly not even Dib, could have created." Another pause. "And it is with this all of this as a whole taken into consideration, that we have made the decision to release you from custody under the condition that you join the forces on the front lines."

"I couldn't ask for more." Zim said.

"Glad to hear it because you will fighting on the very front lines with the special ops Team B with commander Viscera."

UUUUUUUU

"Looks like our ships have arrived." One of the team members said.

"Finally, any longer and we would be without any offense. Alright guys, the ships will be docking here first to pick up the soldiers that will be teleported up." Viscera said.

"How many soldiers are we expecting?" Dib asked.

"We will receive 10 groups of 10 million. This is the first, when we finish loading up these ships more will arrive and the second group of soldiers will arrive. We will continue this cycle until we have loaded all the ships." His communicator beeped and he looked at a message. "Looks like we're getting another special ops member."

"Who is it?" Dib asked.

There was a beam of light and Zim appeared in front of them out of disguise. "Him." Viscera said.

There we're whispers among the team members as Zim walked up to he commander and reached out for a handshake. "I am more that glad to join your ranks and fight for a truly noble cause." The commander just stared and Zim awkwardly pulled his hand back.

"And why are you so happy to be here if we're fighting your kind?" He sneered.

"Look, I'm not going fight about this. I'm here to help so deal with it." Zim turned to Dib. "So how much do you really know about my kind's weaknesses other than water?"

"Not much, the only other weaknesses I can remember are meat and cheese-"

"Let me stop you there." Zim interrupted. "There are three major points to shoot an Irken. The antenna, head, and the most important and deadly area to hit, the pak." Zim said pointing at his own pak.

"Why the pak?" Viscera asked auspiciously.

"It is the equivalent of blowing up the top half of your body. It contains our memories, consciousness, nutrients, and basic life support. Without it an Irken can only survive a maximum of ten minutes before death."

"So why do want to help?" A soldier asked.

"This planet is the only place I have left that is worth fighting for." Zim answered sadly.

* * *

Coolio this was a fun chapter to write and I hope to make the next ones as epic as possible!

"You? Epic? I don't see that happening any time soon!"

Look man, I'm tired and I want to get to sleep so I'm going to wrap this up.

"No fair! I barley got make fun you-me-us!"

Weekly question: If you had to join the military, what position would interest you the most? My answer is infantry.

One more thing, look out for a short story of mine today for Halloween!㈌1㈌3㈌7ㇳ5


	12. Plan A: Step Two

HOLY CRAP! I GOT SO INTO THIS CHAPTER! I wrote this one in as great detail as I could, given Dib's position in this part. I really hope you like my selection of song for this, This is War- Thirty Seconds to Mars, which I recommend listening to before reading. Read away!

* * *

"The ship is our range!" An engineer said.

"All ships are loaded and ready for battle!" Another shouted.

"Good, wait to fire the laser until my mark." Viscera said. He stared in the distance as the massive approached, and raised his hand up.

"30 kilometers, 25, 20, 15."

"MARK!" He shouted.

The laser on the station charged up with an ominous him and shot with a high pitch screech. Dib, Zim, and the rest of the team put on their helmets and entered a ship, four of them entering gunning seats. The ship left the station.

Dib looked out the window to get a view of the massive, there were sparks and electricity going around it ,signifying that the wields were down; then he saw the incredible armada they waited ahead. "Looks like this is it." Dib said. "Do or die...win or die...kill or die."

"This is the official step in beginning the war. No turning back now, we face he battle field and whether or not we return is decided by the actions of us and others." Zim commented.

 _ **A warning to the people**_

 _ **The good and the evil**_

 _ **This is war**_

"Thirty seconds until first contact." The pilot said.

The four gunners cocked the weapons and readied themselves. Dibs heartbeat throbbed in his ears as the pilot counted down.

"20 seconds...15 seconds...10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 CONTACT!

 _ **To the soldier, the civilian**_

 _ **The martyr, the victim**_

 _ **This is war**_

The ships around began to weave side to side, dodging shots from ahead; some getting hit, but just shaking it off. The gunners took aim and began to pick outer their first targets in the distance.

 _ **It's the moment of truth and the moment to lie**_

 _ **The moment to live and the moment to die**_

 _ **The moment to fight, the moment to fight, to fight, to fight, to fight**_

The gunners let loose and ship after ship went into flames as space descended into utter chaos and war. Each shot lite up the dark space with a iredecent glow of green as they rush toward the intended target.

 _ **To the right, to the left**_

 _ **We will fight to the death**_

 _ **To the Edge of the Earth**_

 _ **It's a brave new world from the last to the first**_

Dib could only be an observer as he watched bits of the ships fly off as other ships zoom by. He began to grow anxious to fight and do his part. His hands grew into fists of both rage and eagerness, but they stopped when a hand set itself on his shoulder.

"You'll get your chance soon." Viscera said. "For now you need to save you energy to use when we board the ship."

"He's right Dib." Zim said as the ship took a sharp turn. "When get there we're going to be fighting the head guards, elite soldiers, and heavy weapons specialists. There will be plenty to relive your stress and anger out on, but now's not the right time or plare."

Out the window, a field of scrap and melted parts had already began to form amongst the chaotic scene.

 _ **To the right, to the left**_

 _ **We will fight to the death**_

 _ **To the Edge of the Earth**_

 _ **It's a brave new world, It's a brave new world**_

Dib looked back at Earth down below, looking like an insignificant blue grain of sand in the desert that is the universe. He had never really given how tiny and isolated earth was, despite his interest in space travel and extraterrestrial life. A sight that leaves most in awe.

 _ **A warning to the prophet**_

 _ **The liar, the honest**_

 _ **This is war**_

 _ **To the leader, to the pariah, the victim, the Messiah**_

 _ **This Is War**_

 _ **The ship shook violently as they got grazed by a rather large shot.**_

 ** _It's the moment of truth and the moment to lie_**

 ** _The moment to live and the moment to die_**

 ** _The moment to fight, the moment to fight, to fight, to fight, to fight_**

There was a loud bang Dib blanked out for a moment. When he came to, lights were flashing, and there was a hole in the ship that quickly sealed itself. Dib looked over to see Viscera holding a persons abdomen where blood was pouring out.

"Sir," the young boy said coughing up blood "I'm not ready to die. I need to get back to my station, I need to fight."

"No no no," Viscera said quickly "you're going to rest and your going to be just fine. Come on stay with me, what's your name and age?" He asked trying to keep the boy awake.

"Arsen...Arsen Virgil, I'm nineteen." He mumbled in pain.

He began to fade slightly and viscera lightly patted him on the cheek to wake him. "Come on, tell me something about you."

"I got engaged about a week ago..." He went into a coughing fit. "We were supposed to get married in two days."

"Whats her name?" Viscera continued.

"Angela Crassus." He said weakly. "Sir, do me a favor. I need you to take this." He handed him a locket. "She gave it to me before this all happened. I want you to give it to her to remember me by."

"I can't do that because you're going to make it."

"P...please." Then the boy's hand went limp. Viscera grabbed the tags around his neck and put them in his pocket. His face grew a look of pure and utter rage as he walked over to the gun.

 ** _To the right, to the left_**

 ** _We will fight to the death_**

 ** _To the Edge of the Earth_**

 ** _It's a brave new world from the last to the first_**

In his berserk rage, Viscera began to take down ships with deadly precision and accuracy, managing to get thirty kills in only a few moments. "Die you bastards! I'll kill all of you!" He, alone, lite up the area around them with rounds. Cruisers and battleships went up in flames, forcing the Irkens aboard to flee back to the massive in escape pods.

 _ **To the right, to the left**_

 _ **We will fight to the death**_

 _ **To the Edge of the Earth**_

 _ **It's a brave new world, It's a brave new world, It's a brave new world**_

With Viscera in a rage and the rest of the ships concentrating on one area, they ripped through the defenses of the armada, managing to punch a hole straight through to the massive. Like a flock of locusts, the human armada came through and destroyed nearly everything that came close to the group of ships.

 ** _I do believe in the light_**

 ** _Raise your hands into the sky_**

 ** _The fight is done_**

 ** _The war is won_**

 ** _Lift your hands toward the sun_**

 ** _Toward the sun, toward the sun, toward the sun_**

 ** _The war is won_**

The ship got close to the crippled massive, looking for a spot to dock.

"There's a port underneath the wing over there." Zim said pointing. "Be ready to have massive resistance and firepower. We need to do is establish a foothold in an area and take out the tallests and the control brains to make sure we cut off all outgoing orders. Then the rest of the Irkens are bound to surrender."

"Then why are we launching a mass scale attack on the massive?" Someone asked.

"To divert the attention to where the group is allowing us to sneak around with minimal fighting.

 _ **To the right, to the left**_

 _ **We will fight to the death**_

 _ **To the Edge of the Earth**_

It's a brave new world, It's a brave new world, It's a brave new world

A brave new world, the war is won, the war is won, a brave new world

'Knock knock.' Dib thought to himself as the ships flooded through in a rush to the massive.

* * *

Hello again! I'm going to be quick and to the point. Remember to check out my other stories, review, all that good stuff. Also, I have the forum for "The Interview of Doom" up for all. If you ha any questions, here's the link. So click on it, come on, you know you want to...

forum/The-Interview-of-Doom/185174/

THOOPID OUT!


	13. Plan A: Step Three

Hello there! Bet you though I was dead, didn't you? Nope, the world isn't that fortunate. Sorry there wasn't a chapter last week, I just wasn't really in the mood to so yeah. Well any who is next chapter took me forever to make. I put literally every second of my spare time into it so I hope you enjoy it. And the song in this chapter is Long Forgotten Sons by Rise Against, I was looking for a song for hours and heard that song and it is perfect for where I put it.

* * *

The ship hovered outside the massive as they waited for the rest of the human army to gather.

"Alright, there should be a hangar at the side of that area." Zim said directing the other ships over the radio. "When we arrive, expect to be greeted by heavy forces and it won't be a happy greeting."

"Us and ships bravo, sierra, foxtrot, and zulu will lead in the first assault." Viscera continued in. "We will be responsible for establishing a foothold in the ship. When we've done that everyone else will come, but only once you are radioed to do so."

The ships blasted through the hangar doors and immediately were swarmed with a barrage of lasers. dib and everyone in the ship locked and loaded, put on their helmets, and jumped out. The first to exit each ship were heavily armored people with high-tech shields. They planted the shields into the floor and then they expanded into walls. Then everyone else swarmed out of the ships, quickly getting to cover and beginning a counterattack. Dib jumped out with his riffle in hand and he rolled behind a wall.

"I'm not too sure how long these shields can last against this kind of punishment. We need to clear this place out and soon." Zim said sliding up next to Dib.

"Well what do you suggest we do?" Dib asked.

Zim peeked his head over the shield and looked around the area quickly before ducking back behind. "There's a gap behind their group. If we can manage to get a group back there, we will be able pinch their forces and they won't stand a chance."

"Leave that to me." Dib said before going around to gather a small group. They made their way around the hangar in the midst of the fighting, sneaking behind the shields and the Irken ships parked inside until they were right behind them.

"Alright, we're going to split up here." Dib said, his voice barely going above the sound of the shots. "You two take the right, you two take the left we'll go straight in from here."

The group slowly stalked their way around until the entire Irken group was surrounded. When one of the Irkens looked around, it was too late. They were immediately consumed in the wave bullets and laser, leaving only a trail of death and destruction behind. When the return fire ceased, everyone came out from behind the shields and began to clean out the remaining Irkens who were still barley alive.

Dib watched from a distance as the rest of the group, including Zim, walked through the shrapnel and corpses. Zim seemed to have a blank, uncaring look for each soldier he shot and killed, simply lifting his gun and pulling the trigger as if he had been waiting to do this for a long time. They continued on, shooting every couple of minutes leaving a prolonged silence between shot and slightly startling Dib each time. When the group returned their boots were soaked with green blood and guns emptied of bullets.

Dib looked up slowly after a moment of silence between everyone before finally speaking. "How long before they realize their soldiers are dead?"

"Depends on the one overseeing the group." Zim answered Some don't think that they will never be beaten and in that case they will never notice, but if they do notice it will take somewhere between fifteen minutes to an hour until an special operations team reaches us."

"So basically we just sit and wait to die." Viscera said bitterly.

"No it means you guys stay here to keep an extraction point clear for us while Dib, Gaz and I complete the final steps in the plan."

"Wait, what the hell do you GAZ?" Dib shouted.

"Dib, I understand that you two are of the same biological parents, but you and I both know that she's one of the most experienced people when it comes to physical confrontation. Plus we need the exposition group to be the best of the best and, no offense Commander Viscera, the best of the best is us. For years you alone, with nearly no help, had managed to keep me at bay. And Gaz, she was the one you counted on to save you when you were in danger. As much as I still don't like you and you don't like me, we have to fight side by side in order to confirm the continuation of our future and lives."

"Well can you at least talk this over with her before you drop a bomb on her like that?" Dib asked.

"Already done." Said a voice behind one of the groups of soldiers that were doing a check on their supplies.

Dib turned around. "Wait, you two talked about this without me!?" Dib yelled, his voice slightly cracking.

Gaz's face turned to an irritated look. "Dib, I know you care and you're still shaken up by dad's death, but I'm seventeen. I don't know about you, but I think I'm old enough to make my own decisions without having to tell everyone what I'm going to do."

"I understand, I just would like to know things like this."

"Two minutes to prep before we leave." Zim said.

Zim was in a ship looking over his weapons and equipment when he heard someone behind him. "Yes? What is it?"

"Zim," Gaz said and Zim immediately spun around. "I know your a trained fighter, but I want you to promise me something."

"What is it?" He said softly.

"Be careful. I know I'm going too, but who knows what can happen out there."

Zim grabbed her by her chin and raised her face to his. "I promise." The leaned in closer and closer and then Zim's timer went off. Zim looked at his watch. "Showtime."

The two gathered their supplies and walked out of the ship. "Dib! Let's go!" Gaz shouted."

He came over looking like he had every possible contingency planned out. "Ready!"

Zim rolled his eyes. "Alright let's go. Viscera, if they're coming, the Irken forces will be closing in soon after we leave, be ready."

"Got it." He said. "Just get finished as soon as possible and keep me updated on your status via radio."

They cautiously made their way down the hallway. "So what's first ?" Dib asked.

"We need to take out the massive's control brain."

"Let's do it."

"Whoa, its not that easy." Zim said.

"Nothing is anymore." Gaz commented.

Zim continued pulling up a map of the massive. "The room its in is heavily guarded and has four layers of security. To even get there we need to get through the most heavily guarded areas of the massive. However, I had a plan mapped out already. First, we go through the smeet labs since nobody is ever down there. When we get through, the power station to the security system will be down the hall. After that there should be a series of corridors leading to where the control brain will be. We'll need to get to the control brain before the backup power kicks in when we when get to the rest is simple. Shoot." He stopped. "Its a long plan, but its the only way, besides blasting through that'll, work."

"Well as long as Dib doesn't goof, we're good." Gaz said.

"Hey!" Dib whined.

"Follow me." Zim dashed down the hallway on his pak legs, but stopped soon after starting. "One more thing, I made these in my spare time before I got arrested." He handed Gaz and Dib each a metal dome with straps. "I managed to make some imitation pak legs for you two. You simply put it on and it make telepathic neural link, all you have to do to use them is think."

"Wow..." Dib said sounding like a little kid in a candy store. "Thanks..."

"I thought that you two could use some to help with quicker movement and extra protection. Now let's go." He continued on.

Dib and Gaz looked at each other, shrugged, put the devices on, and followed Zim.

"Alright, the labs should be behind this door. When we get inside, be quick, be quiet, and above all else, do not get caught by the robotic arms."

They entered the labs cautiously, rapidly looking around to make sure there was no one or nothing to catch them. They had been walking for about five minutes, Dib following closely, when Dib noticed something very familiar looking lined up on the walls.

'These pods...they look extremely similar, but where have I seen these?' He thought. "Hey Zim?" He whispered. "What are these pods for?"

"They're the creation chambers for the smeet, or as you humans call them, babies. Why?"

"Just wondering."

They continued until Zim stopped suddenly. "What is it Zim?" Gaz asked.

He said nothing, but instead silently pointed up. Dib and Gaz looked up to see a huge metal tentacle above moving, every movement in their bodies ceased, their chests tightening up, legs planted, breaths shortened, and hearts pounding. They stood for a while without moving until the robotic tentacle had left. They all let out a deep breath of relief and continued going down the hallway. The dark, poorly lite columns twisted and contorted in different ways, sometimes making them walk in a circle even with a map. When they got out of the labs, the bright lights blinded them for just a moment before they readjusted to it.

"This way to the power rooms." Zim said quietly.

They quickly ran down the hallway, making sure they weren't seen by the cameras. When they arrived at the power station for the security they saw several guards standing at the doors and more inside.

"Stay here, I'll be back." Zim whispered.

"Where are you going?" Gaz asked.

Zim rushed off quickly. Dib and Gaz watched as Zim snuck up on the guards, climbing on the ceiling using his pak legs, he waited for a moment before attacking. The guards inside the room dashed out in a hurry hearing the guards scream, but were greeted by two sharp, metallic appendages piercing through their paks before ripping them off knocking them out.

'Fifteen minutes of doom...' Zim thought to himself before waving for Dib and Gaz to come over.

"Do we just leave them? What if they run off to get help?" Dib asked nervously.

"They're out cold...plus they can't survive long without their paks." Zim said in a cold, dark tone.

"Zim are you alright?" Gaz asked, Zim ignoring her.

"Take these keys and go to the consoles in the corner of the room and wait on my count to three to turn then a lever in the middle of the room will come up and we pull it. From there we have ten minutes until the backup power kicks in." They each walked to a console. "One, two, three." Zim ran to the lever and quickly pulled it. Zim pressed his finger on his earpiece. "Viscera, we ha the power shut down, it should not be too long before we head back."

"Well hurry, the reinforcements just arrived and we're not doing well."

They ran out of the room and headed back down the hallway. Zim went from running to his pak legs. "Come on, use the legs I gave you, it'll take a minute before you get used to it, but its not too hard. Keep up and follow."

Gaz did he same as Zim and quickly caught on, but Dib...well Dib just Dibed things up. When he went to his pak legs he stumbled and came crashing down, landing on an alarm, causing it to trigger.

"What was that?" Zim screeched. "Dib! Alright, its now or never. Gaz grab Dib and let's go before anyone arrives!" Gaz did so and they rushed down the halls as they sirens blared and the lights flashed. "Turn right! Left! Straight! Right! This is it!" Zim stopped at the door and faced Gaz and Dib. "Gaz...Dib I don't know where our paths head from here...it is for his reason I do this." He reached over his back and forced his pak off, grunting with pain and torture as he did so and Gaz began to tear up trying not lose all control of herself. "From here, without my pak, I have fifteen minutes to live, but as soon as I enter the next room I am sure to die sooner. Take my pak, it may not be much, but its one important thing to remember me by and also take this." Zim handed Gaz a metal circle. "When the time comes, this will activate and ow you its importance." He walked to Gaz. "This will be my final goodbye to you I won't be coming back, but don't cry or mourn. Instead be happy, celebrate my life and our relationship together.

Gaz finally reached her breaking point and she jumped on him wrapping r arms around him. "No Zim this can't be it! This wasn't supposed end like this!"

"There can't be war without pain and sacrifice." Zim walked to Dib. "Dib, we may ha been nemesis throughout t entire time we've known each other, but it is at this point that I become a legend. I need you to go and tell my story, make me become that legend. Let my spirit live on and my memory never end. He turned away and opened the large metal door and walked in.

 _ **Far from home on a road unknown**_

 _ **Where the vultures circle on winds that blow**_

 _ **From northern skies that haunt these waking moments**_

"Hello defect Zim." A deep and thundering voice said.

"Well I can't be much of a defect can I? I've led an attack on the home of the Irken empire, the empire known for conquering multiple galaxies. To me it sounds like I've invaded the invaders."

"I had always known this day would come, one of the Irken defects would ultimately become our downfall, but with this knowledge I have prepared." The control brain said in an eerie tone which was theory only warning to a wave of arms bursting out of he walls.

"Zim look out!" Gaz screamed.

Zim turned to see what the sound was, but he was too late. The metal tore through his torso. Gaz screamed Zim's name as he was lifted to one of the many eyes of the control brain.

Dib grabbed her. "Gaz we have to go! There's too many guards headed this way! We can't do anything from here, but head back to Viscera."

 _ **On shadows cast by the mountain range**_

 _ **On calloused soles we find our way**_

 _ **Through desperate eyes, we long for the horizon**_

 _ **While this sun is rising, yeah**_

"You are arrogant, pitiful and insignificant. You think that you can take me down all alone you think that you can make a difference and save these humans. You were destined from the beginning to be a failure."

Zim coughed up blood. "That's where your wrong..." He let out a soft chuckle.

"What is so amusing little one? Your friends are as good as dead and every trace of your existence will be erased, but you still find humor in is."

"You claim to be this almighty being and you presume that you've won."

 ** _We are the long forgotten sons_**

 ** _And daughters that don't belong to anyone_**

 ** _We are alone under this sun_**

 ** _We work to fix the work that you've undone_**

"But I have your dying and the Irkens will easily stomp the inhabitants of this planet with ease, there is nothing you van do to stop me."

Zim weakly pressed his hand on his earpiece. "Viscera, this is Zim. Dib and Gaz are headed to you as we speak. When they arrive, I want you to leave me...don't send anyone back. By the time you Lea this ship won't exist."

The brain let out a robotic laugh. "How do expect to win?!"

 _ **When cries for help go unanswered**_

 _ **And signal fires just burn and burn**_

 _ **We'll wonder if we're waiting here for nothing**_

Zim pulled out a small cylinder, no bigger than a soup can. "With this..."

The brain studied it. "What do you expect this will do to me?"

"Kill you, quite easily too. First it'll detonate and have an initial reaction that creates an EMP effect then it will release a nuclear explosion. One of he many weapons created by one of the humans' greatest minds. How does it feel? To be beaten by a small, insignificant defect and to so close to beating them too. Not only did you get defeated, it you let everyone you are sworn to protect, down. All YOUR subjects and friends, all that YOU have worked for will be erased in an instant. Just, poof, gone without a trace."

 _ **'Cause our lips are sewn, our ears are filled**_

 _ **With the constant drone of the unfulfilled**_

 _ **But we'll never fall if we stand for something**_

 _ **We stand for something, yeah**_

Zim pulled out a detonator. "This is my mark in history, and where yours' and the empire's mark ends here, taken by a single being. Looks like the roles have reversed." Zim let out a weak smile. He heard all the soldiers enter the room and aim.

"Zim! We're off the ship like you told us, now what?" Viscera asked over the radio.

The next words made the control brain feel something it had never felt before, fear. "Enjoy the fire works!" Zim said.

 _ **Yeah, we are the long forgotten sons**_

 _ **And daughters that don't belong to anyone**_

 _ **And we are alone under this sun**_

 _ **We work to fix the work that you've undone**_

Gaz and Dib reached the hangar to see the group in a final stand situation. Adrenaline was coursing through their veins and the moment of them entering the battle scene seemed to last and eternity. They saw in slow motion as one of the Irken foot soldiers impaled a young boy, no older than Dib, with one of his pak legs. A large man picked up that same Irken by the throat, ripped off the pak and threw him across the scene into a group of soldiers. They jumped into the fight, using the legs given to them. The soldiers, being caught off guard, didn't stand a chance as they were eviscerated by a combination of sharp legs, bullets, and plasma blasts.

 _ **Don't fall, I see lights in the distance, they're not far away**_

 _ **Stand up because the sky is turning gray**_

 _ **There's hope in these footsteps of persistence**_

 _ **So don't go astray, these lights get closer everyday**_

"Glad you guys got here when you did, but I got a radio call from Zim. We need to leave and by the way he said it, it sounded like he meant now." Viscera said.

"We can't just leave him!" Gaz yelled.

Dib grabbed her by her arms. "Gaz I already told you, there's nothing we can do for him! We can only do what he told us to do."

"Look, whatever happened out there is a mystery to me, but we need to go now!" Viscera said as everyone else rushed to the ships.. He grabbed Gaz and Dib and forced them onto a ship. "Go!" He shouted Anthe pilot immediately took off.

 ** _We are the long forgotten sons_**

 ** _Yeah, we are the long forgotten sons_**

"Zim! We're off the ship like you told us, now what?" Viscera asked.

"Enjoy the fireworks..."

With those departing words space was lite up and a fireball consumed the ship. Gaz looked in horror as the destruction spread throughout the entire vicinity of the armada and the wall of flames of destruction stopping only a few hundred feet away.

 ** _We are the long forgotten sons_**

 ** _And daughters that don't belong to anyone_**

 ** _And we are alone under this sun_**

 ** _We work to fix the work that you've undone_**

 ** _What you've undone_**

* * *

That was epic! I really hope younloved as much in had writing it. Before an angry mob comes and kills me, this is NOT the last chapter, I still have much more work to do in it. Well next thing, the part where Zim took off his pak may not make sense, but to me it was a very symbolic way for him to say his last goodbye so I put it in. Now for the weekly question, and I know almost no one answers them, but I'm still going to ask them because they're fun to ask.

Weekly question: What is your favorite Invader Zim episode finish or unfinished? Mine is Bad Bad Rubber Pigggies.

Well I hope you enjoyed and if you did favorite and comment please and I will see you guys later. THOOPID OUT!


	14. Homecoming

Hey...so yeah you may have noticed that there was no chapters like I promised. Look I'm not going to make any excuses other than that I'm lazy. : P So I think I'm just going to upload chapters whenever, I'll try to do it once a week but no promises.

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Two weeks later.

Gaz and Dib sat onstage in front of a crowd of people with a group of people from other countries. The audience looked at the stage with an unbroken concentration as Viscera walk onto the stage in military dress and went to a podium with a microphone. He was quiet for a moment, as if he was trying to piece together the final words of his speech. Finally, he looked up from some papers and took a seep breath.

"My fellow people. Americans, Canadians, Chinese, Mexicans, British, French, Italians, Germans, Russians, Japanese, Indians and so on. We as a people have faced a threat like no other, a threat that had been hiding beneath our noses for so long. Some people speculated this threat existed." He gestured to Dib. "But nearly all of us doubted them. We called them crazy, idiots, morons. Though if not for them, we would not be here today. They put their disputes aside and answered the call, not to their country, but to their planet. These people designed weapons and armor to aid us and their youearch prevailed. I am here to address these people, of which are all sitting up here." He turned to them. "If it were not for you, we would all be dead or slaves. You have all showed bravery, intelligence, and forgiveness to us all. With this I present you all with new honor that the global leaders have come up." He took out a box and removed a earth-shaped medal with a Swollen Eyeball symbol. "This is the first medal to be made of its kind. Only for those who have gone above and beyond the call of man. This is the Solar Guardian Award."

Each person got up and walked to Viscera and back to their seat. With the medal in hand. Gaz and Dib watched each person go the Dib got up. He went to the podium and shook Viscera's hand, but when he went to hand him the medal, Dib refused to take it.

"I can't accept this...not after what I've seen. I walked beside you in the heat of battle." Dib turned to the crowed. "I've personally seen the sacrifices your sons, and daughters have made to ensure our safety and existence. Brothers, sisters, mothers, father, and couples forever separated from these sacrifices. No person should be receiving a medal because they were aware of a threat before it came, but rather all of those out there who have paid the price for freedom and survival with their limbs, bodies, and lives should be receiving one." Dib turned, walked to his seat, sat quietly.

The others onstage began to look at the medals in hand, and one by one they walked back up to Viscera, saluted, and went back their seat. Each person in the crowd cheering and applauding them for their modesty.

Viscera turned back to the podium. "...and now a word for those who have died in the heat of battle fighting for us all, we remember you. Your bodies may have died, but your spirits and memories live forever in us, we remember you. Those of you who have gone to the edge of our reality to save us from this threat and fighting a seemingly impossible war, we remember you. Those of you who have gone above and beyond the call to duty, we remember you. And now a moment of silence for those people." He stood there with his head bowed for a moment, mouthed a prayer and looked back up. "And that is the closing ceremony. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please leave in an orderly fashion. Outside there will be memorial for those who are dead or missing, if you would please pay your respects that would be a blessing for the families. Goodnight." With those words Viscera walked off stage and out a door to right while the crowd stood up and left.

Dib walked outside and same Viscera standing next to a section of the memorial. A woman dressed in black walked over. He said something to her and she broke down crying. He picked her up off her knees and handed her a locket. Then it hit Dib. ' Arsen Virgil' he thought. The vivid memory of his death hit him. The terrified sound of his voice and his winces and grimaces of pain. Him slowly fading out and going limp in Viscera's arms.

"Dib!" Gaz said shaking him

"Huh?" Dib said, snapping put of his hallucination.

"Come on, I know of at least two people we need to pay our respects to." She and Dib walked to Dib's car. "You don't look so good, let me drive."

"Sure." Dib reached into his pocket and handed her the keys.

They got in and drove off. "So Dib, where did all that come from?"

"What do you mean?"

"That whole speech you gave about why you couldn't take that medal?"

"I don't know. I guess it was just that I remembered what had happed in that hangar, seeing all those people getting killed and..." Dib trailed off.

"And what?"

"...and Zim. He died in a way that I would have never imagined. He saved our whole planet, and sacrificed himself for not only you, but me." Dib looked at Zim's pak and metal sphere Zim gave to Gaz before he died.

* * *

Play this while you read this next part. watch?v=O3oxW8-mEuI

* * *

They arrived at the cemetery and went to their dad's grave. They looked at the tombstone which read:

Here lies Professor Membrane

1968 - 2015

Leader, innovator, genius, father.

He may have not been the most connected father, but he worked for his children, to give them the life he never had as child. With every moment he was working, he was thinking of them.

Gaz laid some flowers on top of the grave and stepped back. "We'll miss you..."

They continued to walk through, passing tombstones an finally arriving at a grave that lie in the corner and seemed to be isolated. It simply read.

Zim

Unknown - 2015

Outcast

He was a tough one, he pushed others away, but all he needed was someone to push back to open up.

Gaz took out his pak and laid it on top of the grave. Then she took out the sphere, she dropped it and heard a soft *click*. The sphere opened and began to unfold into a small stand, then a hologram appeared. Gaz immediately collapsed crying.

"Gaz if you are receiving this message then I am dead, of which I had figured would be an inevitable consequence of this war. If this is true then please listen carefully, the pak that I carry not just a weapon, it has all of my memories and personality, my very existence, but also can be attached to any Irken to upload my consciousness. Effectively making that body me. That is why I gave my pak to you, because I had a plan for this. There is a cylindrical container in the basement of your house, inside is an exact clone of my current body."

Dib had a flashback from the day his dad died. He had seen one when he was looking around in Zim's room.

"You need to go to the computer next to it and type in '9-8-4-2-1-6'. Doing this will open the container and will allow you to attach my pak and then a shock from the container will awaken it...or...well me. Afterwards I have a question for you." The hologram cut off.

Gaz was still on her knees, tears running down her face. Dib stood in shock and awe of what he had just seen. Gaz got up and grabbed the pak and Dib's arm and ran off as fast as she could. They got to the car, got in, and Gaz floored.

They stopped in front of the house and dashed in. Gir laid on the couch looking depressed, he had been like that ever since he had found out about Zim's death. They ran the basement and looked around until they found it. Gaz quickly punched in he numbers and the metal container opened. She sat the lifeless body up and shoved the pak on, matching up the holes in the back with a series of plugs in the pak. She laid it back down a stood back.

Then a robotic voice came from the machine. "PAK PRESENCE DETECTED INITIALIZING DEFIBRILLATOR!" There was a buzz followed by a few shocks and then the eyes opened

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Shorter chapter, but it's another setup for many more chapters to come. I'm happy to say that there were to people who favorited my story this week and I hope to see them in the reviews soon.

WEEKLY QUESTION: What is true love to you and to what extent would go for it?

MY ANSWER: To me true love is not just when two people decide to be together, but also when they have a functioning relationship to where they are not only a couple, but they are each other's best friend, allowing them to continue to be together for he rest of their lives. No I'm not saying they're relationship should be perfect, any relationship will have hardships and difficulties to deal with, but the couple should be able to work through these troubles together. To me if a relationship is like this then I would go to the ends of the universe for this person if that means we are able to be with each other.

Leave your answer in the review section as well as your own comments on the story so far. I hope to see more favorites in the future. I'll see you later and until then, have a beautiful life! THOOPID OUT!


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